
Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust, Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Howlands, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL7 4HQ, email: C.1.Hawley{at}herts.ac.uk
St Georges, University of London, and South West London and St Georges NHS Trust
School of Postgraduate Medicine, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire
None. The views expressed are those of the authors personally and severally and not those of any organisation or institution.
See special article, Psychiatric
Bulletin 2009; 33: 219–225.
Two recent articles,The trouble with NHS psychiatry in Englandand Wake-up call for British psychiatry have levelled severe criticisms against the NHS provider systems for people with mental disorders. In response, we argue that such severe criticisms are not fully justified. We propose that there are six areas for debate: ideological matters, policy intentions, empirical questions, operational issues and professional activities. Under this simple six-point taxonomy it might be possible to have a more sophisticated debate about how all parties should work together to achieve the best outcomes for patients.
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