§ Mr. Christopher Priceasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list by areas the number of psychiatric hospital patients discharged into hostels during the latest period for which figures are available and the percentage of total discharges from psychiatric hospitals that this represents.
§ Mr. MoyleInformation in relation to discharges specifically to hostels is not available.
In England In 1975, the number of patients discharged from mental illness hospitals was 164,995 and from mental handicap hospitals 12,845. Patients are discharged to a variety of forms of aftercare, including day-patient treatment, out-patient treatment, social services care generally and guardianship, and many are of course discharged to their own homes. The numbers discharged from mental illness and mental handicap hospitals to mental nursing homes, after-care homes, and local authority residential accommodation were 3,134 and 423 respectively. These represent 2.0 per cent. and 3.3 per cent. of the total numbers discharged.
Information on the areas to which patients are discharged is not at present collected centrally.