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The survey asked attenders at two day hospitals to rate how helpful they found different components of their therapeutic programme. One of the day hospitals was established for short‐term attendance, the other provided rehabilitation and support for long‐term attenders, who tended to be male and psychotic. The results revealed that the short‐term unit attenders rated talking to nurses as more helpful than any other activity, whilst long‐term users, in contrast, valued vocational placements and material resources. The survey was subsequently re‐administered in one unit and the results were shown to be statistically reliable. The findings are discussed with reference to how they have been used so far to improve the service in one of the day hospitals. It is concluded that the views of day attenders are an important factor in developing a quality community mental health service.

SummaryA comparison has been made of costs within in-patient units in a large Scottish psychiatric hospital. Cost differences were found between short-stay, rehabilitation and long-stay psychosis units and beds for the elderly with mental disorder. These differences reflected staffing levels, particularly of nurses. The costs were greater than average for psychiatric hospitals and approximated to geriatric units—a finding in keeping with the high occupancy of beds by the elderly. Existing long-stay elderly patients require to be considered separately in distinguishing elderly in-patient costs without total psychogeriatric care offered by society.

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