Abstract
Following the publication of correspondence between the then Minister for Health, Mr Kenneth Clarke, and the National Schizophrenia Fellowship (Bulletin, March 1985, 9, 49–55), we are now publishing the concluding letters in this exchange of correspondence. (Mrs Joyce Major has been succeeded by Mr R. N. Lines as Chairman of the NSF.)We use the expression ‘long-term patient’ to describe one who, whether in hospital or elsewhere, needs a great deal of supervision and/or nursing care. We use ‘long-stay patient’ for the smaller category in hospital or equivalent health service institution. The great majority of long-term who are not long-stay are at present cared for by relatives, if at all; a small fraction are in staffed homes provided by the voluntary sector, or are in local authority hostels.
Highlights
We are extremely grateful for your letter of 2 October addressed to Mrs Major; for the final paragraph, in which you say that it is healthy to hammer out our differences—differ ences in approach, rather than in objectives
In our letter of 2 July we referred to the confusion amongst district health authorities over probable numbers of long-stay patients
We have been glad to find that most of them at least recognize that long-stay patients exist and will continue to exist
Summary
Correspondence between the National Schizophrenia Fellowship and the Minister for Health. In our letter of 2 July we referred to the confusion amongst district health authorities over probable numbers of long-stay patients. In the past year we have seen and commented on a large number of district health authorities' planning and con sultative papers. With so much initiative left to district health authorities, you rightly stress the need for trying to influence planning at local levels. But comparatively young organization, and our effective local groups, though increas ing, are still sited in less than half the health districts. Those competent to scrutinize local plans are probably fewer still; and to continue to do this, with any thoroughness, from our centre is beyond its capacity. Be assured that these will all be services for the mentally ill
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