The Glasgow rehabilitation survey

To assess the future requirements for long-stay psychiatric beds, every consultant psychiatrist in Glasgow was asked to consider whether long-stay patients in his or her wards would be fit for rehabilitation and return to the community. For the purposes of the survey, long stay was defined as a single admission of at least six months, but patients with an organic diagnosis who were aged over 65 were excluded. It was estimated that, with rehabilitation, almost a third of the patients surveyed could return to the community, and that, with more participation in self-care, over 15% might be able to manage in a ward or hostel within the the hospital. Patients judged fit to return to the community were preponderantly younger patients with a shorter period of in-patient care, and those suffering from a functional psychotic illness.