Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T17:04:53.356Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Patients in Broadmoor Hospital from the South Western region: an audit of transfer procedures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jeanette Smith
Affiliation:
The Butler Clinic, Langdon Hospital, Exeter Road, Dawlish, Devon EX7 0NR
Martin Donovan
Affiliation:
The Butler Clinic, Langdon Hospital, Exeter Road, Dawlish, Devon EX7 0NR
Harvey Gordon
Affiliation:
Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne, Berkshire RG11 7EG
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.

Broadmoor Hospital is one of the three special hospitals covering England and Wales. It provides approximately 500 beds for mentally disordered patients who on account of their dangerous, violent or criminal propensities constitute a grave and immediate danger to the public, requiring treatment in conditions of special security (Section 4, National Health Service Act, 1977). It is generally recognised, however, that there are patients in special hospitals no longer requiring treatment in conditions of maximum security. These patients could probably be more appropriately cared for elsewhere if the facilities existed in general psychiatric hospitals or the community. However, special hospital consultants frequently encounter significant obstacles when attempting to transfer patients to local hospitals. Dell (1980) highlighted this problem, suggesting that 16% of special hospital patients were waiting to leave, following the agreement of the DHSS and the Home Office to their transfer. This delay appeared to be due to hospitals not wanting to accept patients who might prove to be difficult or dangerous. At the time of this current study (March 1990) these difficulties in transferring patients were particularly relevant as two of the special hospitals, Broadmoor and Ashworth (Park Lane and Moss Side) were full for male patients and therefore closed to male admissions, despite a continuing demand for beds.

Type
Audit in Practice
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, 1991

References

Dell, S. (1980) Transfer of special hospital patients into National Health Service hospitals. In Abnormal Offenders, Delinquency and the Criminal Justice System (eds Gunn, J. & Farrington, D. P.), pp. 325338. Chichester: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Gostin, L. (1986) Institutions Observed. London: King's Fund Centre.Google Scholar
Hamilton, J. R. (1985) Developments in forensic psychiatry services in the National Health Service. In Psychiatry, Human Rights and the Law (eds Roth, M. & Bluglass, R.), pp. 123137. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hamilton, J. R. (1990) Special hospitals and the state hospital. In Principles and Practice of Forensic Psychiatry (eds Bluglass, R. & Bowden, P.), pp. 13631373. London: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Home Office (1973) Report on the Review of Procedures for the Discharge and Supervision of Psychiatric Patients subject to Special Restrictions (Aarvold Committee). Cmnd 5191. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Joint Committee on Higher Psychiatric Training (1987) Requirements for specialist training in forensic psychiatry. In Joint Committee on Higher Psychiatric Training Handbook, pp. 4346. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists.Google Scholar
Priest, R. G. (1990) The future of mental hospital sites. Psychiatric Bulletin, 14, 245248.Google Scholar
Royal College of Psychiatrists (1980) Secure Facilities for Psychiatric Patients: a comprehensive policy. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.