Long-stay patients in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

In September 1974 a study was made of all residents of the East London Borough of Tower Hamlets, aged 65 or more, who were known to have been receiving continuous medical and nursing care in hospital for more than a year. There were 91 geriatric and approximately 100 psychiatric patients, representing just under 1 per cent of the population over 65. Eighty geriatric and 15 psychiatric patients were studied in detail. Physical and mental incapacity were assessed on the basis of performance of practical tasks and simple tests of ability, and social incapacity from a study of social circumstances. Both geriatric and psychiatric patients showed extreme disability. Geriatric patients showed physical and intellectual incapacity, psychiatric patients intellectual incapacity. The commonest diagnosis among geriatric patients was dementia (70 per cent). Social factors, while unfavourable, did not in themselves account for prolonged hospital stay. The finding of only a very small number of long-stay patients handicapped by physical disability alone suggests that the majority of such patients are at home.