§ Mr. SimsTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list, for each regional health authority(a) the number of patients discharged from psychiatric hospitals and (b) the number of readmissions to psychiatric hospitals for the last three years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. DorrellThe information available on discharges, after an ordinary admission, from national health service hospitals and hospital units in England is contained in the table. All figures exclude day cases.
Figures on hospital stays are available only for the years 1987–88 and 1988–89. A finished hospital stay is defined here as a discharge from a hospital, or death in hospital, or transfer to another hospital, after a period of care in one of the mental illness specialities.
Figures for finished consultant episodes are also provided for 1989–90. A finished consultant episode is defined here as the period a patient is under the care of a particular consultant in one of the mental illness specialities. A consultant episode may finish when either a patient changes consultant, dies, is discharged into the community, or is transferred to another hospital outside the existing district health authority of treatment.
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave concerning figures by admission status to the hon. Member for Livingston (Mr. Cook) on 13 February at column 417.
§ Mr. DorrellNew arrangements for the discharge of patients from psychiatric hospitals, known as the care programme approach, come into effect on 1 April. We have asked regional health authorities to confirm by 30 April that the new arrangements are in place. We also intend to commission research into the operation of the care programme approach.