HC Deb 30 June 1969 vol 786 c16W
Mr. Gurden

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many patients who are in Hollymoor Psychiatric Hospital. Birmingham, are not in need of psychiatric treatment;

(2) why pyschiatric hospitals are being used in old people's homes and for geriatric cases.

Mr. Crossman

Seventy-three—in the opinion of the hospital's medical staff. Psychiatry and geriatric medicine overlap, and many elderly patients are borderline cases for different forms of care.

While there are some old people in hospital who might more suitably be in homes for the elderly and vice versa, transfer from familiar surroundings might be inhuman to individuals. The co-ordinated development of hospital and local authority services reduces this problem.