The development of mental hospitals in China from 2002 to 2016

Abstract

Objective To overview the development of mental hospitals in China over the past 15 years and provide evidence for making policy decisions and allocating resources. Methods The data of health resources and medical service in mental hospitals were extracted from China Health Statistics Yearbook, and pooled and analyzed by excel and SPSS20.0. Results Medical resources: (1) From 2002 to 2016, the health budget allocated to mental hospitals remained stable in China, ranging from 2% to 3%.(2) The number of mental hospitals increased from 583 in 2002 to 1 026 in 2016. Compared to public hospitals, the number of private hospitals increased faster (χ2=191.107, P<0.01). (3) The median numbers of psychiatric beds in mental hospitals were 0.73 per 10 000 population in 2002 and 2.15 per 10 000 population in 2016. (4) The numbers of doctors and nurses in mental hospitals increased from 1.27 per 100 000 and 1.97 per 100 000 in 2002 to 2.15 per 100 000 and 4.55 per 100 000 in 2016 respectively. Medical service: (1) The numbers of visits and inpatients in mental hospitals increased from 10 340.1 thousand and 425.4 thousand in 2002 to 35 009.2 thousand and 1 751.2 thousand in 2016. (2) The beds utilization ratio increased to 95.5% in 2016 from 79.0% in 2002. (3) There were only 2.53 daily visits and 4.58 daily inpatients per doctor in 2002, which have risen to 4.70 and 9.57 in 2016 respectively. Conclusion The mental health hospitals, psychiatric beds and psychiatric staff in China have dramatically increased from 2002 to 2016, and more and more people were seeking psychiatric medical services by years. Whereas, there are still some problems that need to be solved such as still low financial input given the heavier medical burden. Key words: China; Mental hospitals; Development status