§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many patients have been transferred 559W from the National Health Service to the care of the local authorities since 1979; how many were transferred in each year since 1979; and what reduction in National Health Service staff there has been as result of these transfers.
§ Mr. John PattenInformation about the numbers of patients transferred from NHS non-psychiatric hospitals to the care of local authorities is not collected centrally. For mental illness and mental handicap hospitals and units the available information relating to the recommended treatment or care on discharge from hospital is given in the following table.
Numbers of Discharges Recommended outcome 1979 1980 1981 1982 Local authority home for mentally disordered 391 413 463 405 Other local authority residential accommodation 3,237 3,853 3,719 3,978 Local authority social services after-care 8,694 8,708 8,537 8,148 Local authority social services after-care, with other types of psychiatric after-care 3,085 2,588 2,886 2,305 Totals 15,407 15,562 15,605 14,836 These figures do not measure the numbers leaving long-stay hospital care, because most discharges are of patients who have had only short inpatient stays. From 1979 to 1982 the number of resident patients in mental handicap and mental illness hospitals fell by 3,884 and 5,534, respectively. It is not possible to assess the specific effect of these reductions on staff numbers because of other factors operating at the same time, particularly the drive to raise standards in these fields.