Facilities for mentally impaired patients: three years experience of a semi-secure unit

Janet Mayor,Milan Bhate,Anne Graham,Hugh Firth,Stephen Tyrer,Pam Knox

doi:10.1192/pb.14.6.333

Abstract

The Working Party on Security in NHS Hospitals (The Glancy Report, DHSS, 1974a) and the interim report of The Butler Committee (DHSS, 1974b) both recommended that secure provision should be made available for the treatment of mentally disordered patients who required greater security than could be provided in a standard hospital setting. They recommended that patients with mild or borderline mental handicap should be treated together with the mentally ill but that “severely subnormal patients” should be treated separately. Later the Royal College of Psychiatrists (1981) largely endorsed this advice proposing that: (a) individuals with borderline and mild mental handicap could be adequately treated in the secure units for mentally ill individuals(b) individuals with moderate mental handicap needed a special secure facility(c) individuals with severe mental handicap did not need high security, and should be managed in high-staffed wards in mental handicap hospitals.

Highlights

The Working Party on Security in NHS Hospitals (The Glancy Report, DHSS, 1974a) and the interim report ofThe Butler Committee (DHSS, I 974b) both recommended that secure provision should be made available for the treatment of mentally disordered patients who required greater security than could be provided in a standard hospital setting
Secure units for the mentally ill were developed following the Butler Report, these have been largely concerned with the care of the mentally ill and not with the mentally handicapped
This paper describes the service provided during the first three years of a semi-secure unit developed for the treatment of offenders with mental handicap and for those requiring greater security than can be provided in a normal hospital setting

Summary

Introduction

The Working Party on Security in NHS Hospitals (The Glancy Report, DHSS, 1974a) and the interim report ofThe Butler Committee (DHSS, I 974b) both recommended that secure provision should be made available for the treatment of mentally disordered patients who required greater security than could be provided in a standard hospital setting. This paper describes the service provided during the first three years of a semi-secure unit developed for the treatment of offenders with mental handicap and for those requiring greater security than can be provided in a normal hospital setting.

Results

Conclusion