Providing a community mental handicap service

Abstract

It is acknowledged that assessing ‘consumer satisfaction’ is an important part of medical audit (The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1991). For the mentally handicapped, it can be argued that ‘carer satisfaction’ is particularly relevant. This is particularly so at a time when the ‘community’ is being advocated as the preferred setting for the long-term care of the mentally handicapped, the families and neighbours of the handicapped being the main providers of this ‘community care’ (Griffiths, 1988).