A move from hospital to community-based homes for people with learning disabilities: activities outside the home

Eighteen people with learning disabilities who moved from hospital to community-based homes were compared with a matched group of 18 who did not. A week-long time budget diary was used to record each occasion that the person left their home, the people accompanying them on each trip, their mode of transport and their destination. The diary was completed before they left the hospital and was repeated at least 1 year later. There was a strong correlation between the number of trips made from hospital wards at baseline and the number made at follow-up in both groups. Moving from the hospital had no significant effect on the number of trips made, but it did change their nature. Movers made more trips to unsegregated facilities; they made fewer trips alone and more in groups which included both staff and residents.