Abstract
Over the past 20 years the Department of Psychological Medicine at King's College Hospital has gradually taken responsibility for the provision of psychiatric services to the East Lambeth sector of the Camberwell Health District. A small District General Hospital (DGH) in-patient unit was opened in 1972, and since then it has been the aim of the Department to provide a comprehensive locally based psychiatric service. Slow progress has been made compared with the developments that have taken place in the South Southwark sector of the District, which have been fostered by the Maudsley Hospital. With the impending closure of Cane Hill Hospital, on which the District has historically relied, the object of a completely local service is rapidly becoming a reality. Releasing the resources hitherto tied to the large institution presents an unparallelled opportunity for change.
Highlights
Over the past 20 years the Department of Psychological Medicine at King's College Hospital has gradually taken responsibility for the provision of psychiatric services to the East Lambeth sector of the Camberwell Health District
A small District General Hospital (DGH) in-patient unit was opened in 1972, and since it has been the aim of the Department to provide a comprehensive locally based psy chiatric service
Slow progress has been made compared with the developments that have taken place in the South Southwark sector of the District, which have been fostered by the Maudsley Hospital
Summary
Over the past 20 years the Department of Psychological Medicine at King's College Hospital has gradually taken responsibility for the provision of psychiatric services to the East Lambeth sector of the Camberwell Health District. A census carried out in 1986identified 86 East Lambeth residents occupying acute psychiatric in-patient beds (105/100,000 total population), of whom a quarter were cared for in the adjacent Maudsley Hospital. The East Lambeth service includes a day hospital with an average daily attendance of 55 (68/100,000 population), it caters largely for the chronically mentally ill rather than 'acute' patients, together with a small com munity psychiatric nursing (CPN) service and the usual range of out-patient facilities. The routinely available data on the use of psychiatric services by residents of the East Lambeth sector are minimal, consisting only of the very delayed and worryingly inaccurate returns on admission data to the DGH wards which are collected by Hospital Activity Analysis clerks. We wished to identify in more detail the characteristics of the patients who used the East Lambeth in-patient services and to explore the possibility that some shift in resources to alternative styles of provision would be appropriate
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