§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many mentally ill persons have died in Mersey-side in the last year from unusual causes; and how many of these were being prescribed drugs at the time of death.
§ Mr. MoyleThe available information relates to deaths of patients who were undergoing treatment in mental illness hospitals or units. In 1976, five such patients in Merseyside are known by the Mersey Regional Health Authority to have died from causes considered unusual. All died through suicide and all were being prescribed drugs at the time of their death.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what follow-up 365W research has been undertaken into what happens to discharged mentally ill and mentally handicapped patients.
§ Mr. MoyleWe are consulting professional and other interests with a view to a survey, by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, of patients shortly after discharge from mental illness hospitals and units in England. There are several research projects now in being and commissioned by my Department which will yield information about facilities for the care of discharged mentally ill patients, including the effectiveness of alternative types of residential and day care and of the contributions made by different professions.
Follow up research is not being undertaken specifically into what happens to mentally handicapped patients discharged from hospital. Statistics collected by my Department show that a large proportion are discharged into the care of local authority social services departments. A number of research projects have been commissioned into the effectiveness of the various forms of care provided by local authorities.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what progress is being made with the special supervision service clinics for mentally abnormal patients.
§ Mr MoyleOur policy is that services for mentally disordered patients requiring supervision should be provided, as far as possible, as part of the facilities for mentally disordered patients generally. However, we recognise that clinics for mentally disordered people requiring special supervision as day-patients or outpatients may be useful. Several regional health authorities are proposing to include facilities for day-patients and out-patients in their regional secure units.
§ Mr. Watkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many psychiatric day centres there are in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. MoyleOn 31st March 1976 there were 96 local authority day centres in England provided specifically for the mentally ill and seven in Wales. I understand it is not practice in Northern Ireland or Scotland to provide singlepurpose day centres. The 96 local366W authority day centres in England provided 3,300 places, and in addition 400 places in local authorities mixed centres were specifically allocated for the mentally ill. The total number of places made available for the mentally ill in England, including places in voluntary and private centres, was 4,900.
§ Mr. Watkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many psychiatric day centres there are in (a) West Gloucestershire and (b) Gloucestershire.
§ Mr. MoyleOn 31st March 1976, the latest date for which information is available, there were no local authority day centres for the mentally ill in Gloucestershire, nor any places in mixed centres specifically allocated for them.