§ Dr. Owenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what are the latest annual figures for (a) the number of people consulting their family doctors over mental health problems, (b) the number of people referred to specialist psychiatric services, and (c) the number of working days lost through mental illness.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation on the number of people consulting their family doctors over mental health problems is not collected centrally. However, the Royal College of General Practitioners' report "Prevention of Psychiatric Disorders in General Practice", published in 1981, stated that
psychological problems are prominent in about a quarter of adult general practice attenders and significant psychosocial factors are present in about half of the consultations concerning children".The figures available centrally on specialist services for in-patient, out-patient and day patient care represent the total number of admissions or attendances rather than the 112W number of people. Many people have more than one admission or attendance in a year and are therefore represented more than once in the figures. There were 184,000 admissions to mental illness hospitals and units in England during 1982 for in-patient care, of which 50,000 were first admissions, and 71,000 resident patients in these establishments at the end of 1982. Provisional figures indicate that in England during 1982 there were 1,663,000 attendances at specialist out-patient clinics and 3,420,000 day patient attendances. Of these, the numbers making the first attendance of a continuous series were 183,000 out-patients and 56,000 day patients.
So far as working days lost are concerned, information is collected centrally only about days of certified incapacity notified to the Department in connection with claims to sickness and invalidity benefits. The latest annual figures available relate to the year ending 29 May 1982, when the number of days of certified incapacity due to mental disorder in Great Britain was 50.5 million. If the number of days of incapacity in respect of people whose incapacity lasted throughout the year are excluded, the figure is 16.7 million. The conditions covered by the figures in this paragraph include mental handicap as well as psychoses and neurotic and personality disorders.
§ Dr. Owenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will estimate the percentage of patients in mental illness hospitals who are free to discharge themselves if they wish.
§ Mr. John PattenAt 31 December 1982, the latest date for which information is available, 94.3 per cent. of patients in mental illness hospitals and units in England were not subject to detention and were free to discharge themselves.