§ Mr. McCrindleTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his policy as to whether a mentally-ill 487W person in residential care needing 24-hour nursing should be the responsibility of the National Health Service and whether such persons should be under the care of a consultant psychiatrist; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. Currie[holding answer 11 November 1988]Patients are usually the clinical responsibility of their general practitioner. In the case of those who are mentally ill the management of their illness in the short term and the long term is initiated by referral to psychiatric services often by the general practitioner. At times during their illness the care may be met by the psychiatrist alone (as an in-patient in hospital for example); at times by the psychiatrist and the general practitioner sharing the care (as for example when the patient is living in the community and seeing his general practitioner but still seeing the psychiatrist for out-patient follow-up); and ultimately when the patient has made a full recovery from his illness it is often the case that the patient is referred back to the care of his general practitioner.