Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T06:47:27.990Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Institutional Care for Patients with Huntington's Chorea

Is there a better alternative?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Paul Barczak
Affiliation:
All Saints Hospital, Lodge Road, Birmingham B18 5SD (correspondence)
Ann Pedler
Affiliation:
Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham
Sarah Hunter
Affiliation:
Midland Nerve Hospital, Birmingham
Tim Betts
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Despite recent advances in the understanding of Huntington's Chorea, treatment remains, at best, symptomatic and many sufferers end their days in institutional care. A recent survey established the prevalence of Huntington's Chorea in South Wales as 7·65 per 100,000. From this figure, 4,000 or more sufferers of this condition are living in the United Kingdom at present of whom 20% are in hospital or other institutional care. Although some studies have looked in passing at the degree of disability of Huntington's Chorea sufferers in hospital and found it to be considerable, staff and relatives often feel that long stay psychiatric wards are inappropriate or unnecessarily restrictive settings for these patients. This study looks at the disability of Huntington's Chorea sufferers in hospital and other institutions in order to determine the suitability of their placement and to see whether their physical and psychological needs are being met.

Type
Articles
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1987

References

1. Harper, P. S. Walker, D. A., Tyler, A., Newcombe, R. G. & Davies, K. (1979) Huntington's Chorea—the basis for long term prevention. Lancet, ii, 346349.Google Scholar
2. Lavers, A. (1982) Remedial involvement in the management of patients with Huntington's Chorea. Provided by the University of East Anglia on behalf of Combat, 34A Station Road, Hinkley, Leicestershire.Google Scholar
3. Robinson, R. A. (1971) Assessment scales in a psychogeriatric unit In Assessment in Cerebrovascular Insufficiency, (eds. Stocker, G., Cuhn, R., Hall, P.) Stuttgart George, Thieme Verlag.Google Scholar
4. Carter, G. & Evans, O. (1979) Counselling in Huntington's Chorea–letter Lancet. iii, 411413.Google Scholar
5. Harper, P. S., Tyler, A., Smith, S., Jones, P., Newcombe, R. G. & McBroom, V. (1981) The decline in the predicted incidence of Huntington's Chorea associated with systematic genetic counselling and family support Lancet, ii, 411413.Google Scholar
6. Martindale, B. & Bottomley, V. (1980) The management of families with Huntington's Chorea. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 21, 343351.Google Scholar
7. Tyler, A., Harper, P. S., Walker, D. A., Davies, K. & Newcombe, R. G. (1982) The socioeconomic burden of Huntington's Chorea in South Wales. Journal of Biosocial Science, 14, 379389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8. West Midlands Regional Health Authority (1985) Facts and Figures. Treasurers Department, Arthur Thompson House, 146 Hagley Road, Birmingham.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.