HC Deb 15 March 1976 vol 907 cc422-6W
Mr. Grist

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the number of patients released in each area health authority from psychiatric and mental hospitals and units in each of the last five years and the estimated number of such released people who required regular medical treatment following their release.

Dr. Owen

Information is only available for 1974 when area health authorities were first set up, and the available

DISCHARGES FROM MENTAL ILLNESS AND MENTAL HANDICAP HOSPITALS AND UNITS IN 1974 BY RHAAND AHA
Region AHA Mental illness discharges Mental handicap discharge
01. Northern Cleveland 1,959 5
Cumbria 1,389 424
Durham 2,452 305
Northumberland 1,012 502
Gateshead 2.024
South Tyneside 387
Sunderland 914
All 10,784 1,236
02. Yorkshire Humberside 3,036 122
Yorkshire 2,351 149
Bradford 2,662 53
Calderdale 837 70
Kirklees 1,726 1
Leeds(T) 2,069 101
Wakefield 1,702 138
All 14,383 634
03. Trent Derbyshire 2,047 326
Leicestershire (T) 2,188 152
Lincolnshire 2,290 217
Nottinghamshire (T) 3,230 555
Barnsley 517
Doncaster 1,265 136
Rotherham
Sheffield (T) 2,515 215
All 14,052 1,601
04. East Anglia Cambridgeshire (T) 1,369 253
Norfolk 2,120 222
Suffolk 1,651 74
All 5,140 549
05. North West Thames Bedfordshire 1,630 50
Hertfordshire 1,886 512
Barnet 677 42
Brent and Harrow 1,538 14
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow (T) 3,439
Hillingdon 398
Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster (T) 4,010
All 13,578 618
06. North East Thames Essex 3,511 466
Barking and Havering 1,502 8
Camden and Islington (T) 2,062
City and East London (T) 1,903 11
Enfield and Haringey 330
Redbridge and Waltham Forest 3,027 168
All 12,335 653
07. South East Thames East Sussex 2,564 145
Kent 4,906 528
Greenwich and Bexley 1,850 83
Bromley 1,041 8
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham (T) 1,793 5
All 12.154 769

figures relate to the number of discharges, not to individual patients discharged. The information is as follows:

Region AHA Mental illness discharges Mental handicap discharges
08. South West Thames Surrey 3,486 220
West Sussex 2,627 22
Croydon 1,873 110
Kingston and Richmond 1,165 8
Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth (T) 3,841 370
All 12,992 730
09. Wessex Dorset 1,898 31
Hampshire (T) 3,960 333
Wiltshire 2,374 198
Isle of Wight 497 13
All 8,729 575
10. Oxford Berkshire 475 88
Buckinghamshire 1,173 55
Northamptonshire 1,368 580
Oxfordshire (T) 2,640 422
All 5,656 1,145
11. South Western Avon (T) 2.395 522
Cornwall 1,577 68
Devon 3,636 267
Gloucester 1,080 SS60
Somerset 1,691 169
All 10,379 1,086
12. West Midland Hereford and Worcester 2,100 446
Salop 1,296
Staffordshire 3,604 96
Warwickshire 988 285
Birmingham (T) 6,216 154
Coventry 1,076
Dudley 182 15
Sandwell
Solihull
Walsall 89
Wolverhampton 1,162
All 16,624 1,085
13. Mersey Cheshire 5,314 292
Liverpool (T) 2,977 44
St. Helens and Knowsley 443
Sefton 536 242
Wirral 819 15
All 10,089 593
14. North Western Lancashire 5,191 574
Bolton 665
Bury 483
Manchester (T) 2,570
Oldham 891 4
Rochdale 479
Salford(T) 1,725 29
Stockport 490 75
Tameside 323
Trafford 427
Wigan 702
All 13,946 682

In 1974 about 70 per cent. of patients, when discharged from mental illness hospitals or units, were recorded as being referred to various forms of further medical treatment; about 5 per cent. discharge against medical advice, and there is no information available for about 2 per cent. The remaining 23 per cent. may be assumed as reverting to their general practitioners. For the same year, the corresponding figures for mentally handicapped patients were 86 per cent., 1 per cent., 5 per cent. and 8 per cent. respectively.