A survey of patients in a regional geriatric psychiatry inpatient unit

The functioning is described of a regional geriatric psychiatry unit with inpatient beds supplemented by an active community team. Data were collected on 100 consecutive patients admitted between November 1985 and July 1986. Eighty-seven per cent of patients were discharged during the course of the study, the majority (66%) to their own homes or to special accommodation houses, 9% to nursing homes, 7% to general hospitals for treatment and 5% to other psychiatric hospitals for social reasons. The patients were characterized by multiple psychiatric and physical disorders, 26% receiving multiple major psychiatric diagnoses. Fifty-two per cent suffered from significant previously recognized physical disorders and 47% had significant physical illnesses diagnosed for the first time during their admission. At the conclusion of the study 7% remained in long-term wards.