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Observations from community care for serious mental illness during a controlled study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Joseph Connolly*
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF
Isaac Marks
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF
Robin Lawrence
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF
Gary McNamee
Affiliation:
Lambeth Mental Health Community Trust
Matt Muijen
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF
*
Correspondence
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Abstract

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A controlled study of community care in serious mental illness (SMI) was carried out. Patients with SMI were randomised to have hospital care or be looked after by a community psychiatric care team in a Daily Living Programme (DIP). The day-to-day work of a clinical team with the difficulties encountered in delivering community psychiatric care in an inner city is described. There were seven deaths from self-harm during the 45-month study. One DIP patient committed homicide. An ordeal by media following this and the suicides are described. Lessons learnt include the need for the community care team to be responsible for discharge from any in-patient phases and for attention to team morale, especially during adversity, and to time spent working under pressure.

Type
Original Papers
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 © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1996

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