58. Mr. Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has of the number of people who have been discharged into the community under the community care policy in each year since 1980.
§ Mr. WhitneyStatistics of the total number of discharges (including transfers) from mental illness and mental handicap hospitals are available in the series of DHSS booklets "Mental Health Statistics for England", copies of which are in the Library. However, the statistics show that the great majority of discharges follow stays of less than six months, usually for short-term care and treatment or family respite. An indication of the number of people who have been resettled in the community after, in effect, living in hospital is given by the figures in the table of people discharged after stays of five years or more. Some of those concerned may require to be readmitted for a time for example because of changes in their condition.
Discharges after durations of stay of 5 years or more from NHS mental illness and mental handicap hospitals and units in England Mental illness Mental handicap 1980 1,452 1,064 1981 1,293 1,122 1982 1,253 1,144 1983 1,311 1,457 1984 1,624 1,787