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Hot beds of general psychiatry

A national survey of psychiatric intensive care units

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

M. Dominic Beer ,
Carol Paton  and
Stephen Pereira
M. Dominic Beer*
Affiliation:
UMDS (Guy's) and Hon. Consultant Psychiatrist Heath Clinic, Bracton Centre, Bexley Hospital, Old Bexley Lane, Bexley, Kent DA5 2BW
Carol Paton
Affiliation:
Oxleas NHS Trust
Stephen Pereira
Affiliation:
Heath Clinic, Bracton Centre
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

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Little is known of the facilities available nationally to treat the most disturbed patients. A postal survey sent to all pharmacists in the UK known to have a special interest in psychiatry identified 110 psychiatric intensive care units. They varied in size from four to 30 beds, with the small units having low and the larger units very high occupancy levels. Many units accepted a mixture of informal patients directly from the community, detained patients and referrals from the prison service. Medical cover was variable, multidisciplinary team-working poor, and the existence of written policies unsatisfactory. Staff often felt undervalued with little control over admissions and discharges. There is currently no national or local support network for these units.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , March 1997 , pp. 142 - 144
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

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