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THE EXODUS OF LONG—STAY PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS
Author(s) -
PARKER GORDON,
BARR RON
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1975.tb82050.x
Subject(s) - criticism , institution , psychiatry , medicine , psychiatric hospital , rehabilitation , gerontology , political science , physical therapy , law
Increasing criticism is being made of the policy of discharging long‐stay psychiatric patients to the community. A study of such ex‐patients who had left Callan Park Hospital was undertaken to assess this policy in New South Wales. The majority were unemployed pensioners, living in convalescent homes and boarding houses, who stated that they were happier than when living in Callan Park Hospital. It would appear that one type of institution has been substituted for another, and that greater responsibility for the care and rehabilitation of such ex‐patients needs to be offered.