Psychiatric hospitalisations evaluated by patients

For a number of years consumer satisfaction evaluation has been used as documentary evidence of the effect of treatment in psychiatric service systems. Especially in the USA consumer evaluations have been used in connection with the closure of the large central mental hospitals and the changeover to a community based psychiatric service system. The present investigation was conducted in a large psychiatric hospital and confirmed other such investigations that the patients are satisfied with the psychiatric treatment system. This result is in sharp contrast with society's general attitude to the same treatment system. In the present study we found a significant positive correlation between a positive assessment of hospitalisation and the relatives' contact with the staff on the ward. This is an important result in a period when spending cuts and reductions in staff might reduce time for contacts with relatives. Consumer evaluations such as the present one are necessary as a basis of future adjustments in the psychiatric treatment system.