Abstract
BackgroundIn recent years, concerns have been raised that too many patients stay for too long in forensic psychiatric services and that this is a particular problem in those with an intellectual disability.AimsTo compare the characteristics, needs, and care pathways of long-stay patients with and without intellectual disability within forensic psychiatric hospital settings in England.MethodFile reviews and questionnaires were completed for all long-stay patients in high secure and a representative sample of those in medium secure settings in England. Between-group analyses comparing patients with and without intellectual disability are reported.ResultsOf the 401 long-stay patients, the intellectual disability and non-intellectual disability groups were strikingly similar on many sociodemographic, clinical and forensic variables. The intellectual disability group had significantly lower lengths of stay, fewer criminal sections, restriction orders and prison transfers, and higher levels of behavioural incidents and risk assessment scores.ConclusionsIn spite of similar offence histories and higher risk levels, those with intellectual disability appear to be diverted away from the criminal justice system and have shorter lengths of stay. This has implications about the applicability of the Transforming Care programme to this group.
Publisher
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Subject
Psychiatry and Mental health
Cited by
27 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献