A Two Year Follow Up of New Long-Stay Patients in an Inner City District General Hospital

Abstract

In 1967 Magnus described 'the new chronics', patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital who then stayed for more than one year. Since that time many studies have examined this patient group but the majority have focussed on psychiatric hospital populations. There is some doubt, however, as to whether the characteristics of new- long stay patients in District General Hospital (DGH) psychiatric in-patient units are comparable. The current paper describes a two year follow-up study of Medium and New-Long Stay patients identified within an inner-city DGH unit in 1986. Elderly patients with affective disorders and patients with organic brain syndromes were par ticularly highly represented. Length of stay at the time of the original survey, male sex, associated physical disability, and the presence of a secondary diagnosis were particularly associated with poor outcome. The results are discussed in relation to service provision.