§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people over the last five years have been admitted to hospital compulsorily under the Mental Health Act 1959 for reasons of their mental sub normality; under what sections of the Act they were admitted; whether there are regional variations in the practice; and what proportion of the total compulsory admissions mentally subnormal patients comprise in any one year.
§ Sir George YoungThe number of subnormal and severely subnormal patients admitted to mental hospitals and units, including the special hospitals, under compulsory powers in the Mental Health Act 1959 in the years 1973 to 1977 are given in the following table. These admissions accounted for about 2 305W per cent. of all compulsory admissions, although the number of detained patients in these categories amounts at any one time to about 20 per cent. of all detained patients. The figures do not include those subnormal or severely subnormal patients also recorded as being mentally ill, but do include those also recorded as being psychopathic. Figures for 1978 are not yet available.
ENGLAND 1973–1977 Year* All compulsory powers 25 26 29 Detained under section† 60(with and without section 65 restriction)and 61 71†, 72,73 135,136 Other† 1973 … 519 75 33 144 189 5 23 50 1974 … 461 83 32 121 158 4 18 45 1975 … 463 81 41 136 131 6 12 56 1976 … 575 98 69 154 178 2 18 56 1977 … 451 86 57 110 143 5 16 34 * Transfers between psychiatric hospitals are excluded 1973–1975 and included 1976–1977. † Section headings refer to the Mental Health Act 1959. † Other sections of the Mental Health Act 1959 and other Acts.