There is little evidence to indicate how far psychiatric day hospitals for older people can identify and address the needs of older people who attend. The current practice of Care Programme Approach (CPA) in which multidisciplinary team members, patients and their families meet, may provide a suitable forum for needs to be discussed and interventions planned and implemented. One hundred and twelve new day hospital patients over a period of one year were randomly allocated to an experimental group in which the Camberwell Assessment of Need for the Elderly (CANE). Assessment reports were fed back to day hospital staff but not to the control group in which routine practice was maintained. Similar follow-up assessments were performed after three months in the day hospital or at the time of discharge. At follow-up, both the experimental and control groups had over 60% of their initial unmet needs being adequately met. In both groups, the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales 65+ scores and number of unmet needs were reduced indicating an improvement for both groups. However, there were no significant differences in outcome at follow-up between the experimental and control groups. Day hospitals for older people with mental health problems appear effective in identifying and meeting needs. The feedback from CANE made no difference in terms of outcome.

No abstract

No abstract

Constant observation is used in psychiatric practice mainly to prevent acutely III in-patients from self-harm. All In-patients in a psychiatric hospital and a general hospital psychiatric unit who had been on constant observation over a 6 month period were identified (13 patients). These patients and their primary nurses were interviewed using different questionnaires. Most patients felt they had benefited from being on constant observation, but disliked the intrusion on their privacy. The nurses agreed that it had helped most patients, but a significant number of nurses found it frustrating and stressful. Our results suggest a need for an information sheet to be given to patients placed on constant observation; that the period on constant observation should be reduced where possible, and that support should be provided for the nurses Involved.

The emphasis on community care means closure of the long-stay institutions for people with intellectual disability. Studies have indicated that older people with intellectual disability in particular may not be adequately cared for because of poor monitoring of their changing needs and inadequate provision of services. The use of rating instruments to monitor changes, and to predict outcome or needs in this population may help to improve care by assisting with planning and projection of service requirements. In 1991, all residents of a long-stay hospital for people with intellectual disability were assessed using the Disability Assessment Schedule (DAS). Five years later, the 1991 scores of the older residents (aged > 50 years) were reviewed and compared under three outcome groups: in-patients, discharged and deceased. Furthermore, all older people resident in the hospital in 1996 were reassessed using the DAS. Out of the 144 older clients resident in 1991, five years later, 78 were still in-patients, 38 had been discharged into the community and 28 were deceased. In 1991, the decreased group had the greatest problems with continence and symbolic behaviour, while the discharged group had the greatest problems with self-help, vision, hearing, communication, social interaction, echolalia and repetitive speech. In comparison with 1991, the 1996 DAS scores of older residents showed that there were increasing problems with vision, hearing, communication, behaviour and symbolic activities. The present study suggested that the DAS is a useful instrument for monitoring change and predicting outcome in older people with intellectual disability.