[The statute of deinstitutionalization in Great Britain]

The aim of this article is to explain the current status of deinstitutionalisation and of community care development by studying the extent to which community care can or should take over the functions of the asylum. These functions include those that are manifest, or explicit, and those that are latent, or unintended but implicit (Bachrach 1976). The continuing relevance of both sets of functions is argued to be exerting a powerful influence on the processes of asylum closure and community care development. The results include delayed asylum closures and transinstitutionnalisation, the shift of some patients from asylums to other institutions, which stifle the development of community care by concentrating spending in hospitals.