Changes in the approach to mental illness

Changes in the approach to mental illness

The fundamental underpinning themes of the Royal Commission that led to the 1959 Mental Health Act were:

·      that mental disorders should be regarded in much the same way as physical illness and disability

·      that hospitals for mental illness should be run as nearly as possible like those for physical disorders.

These themes were further developed in the 1960s with the development of ‘community care’. The main features of the policy were:

·      that hospital treatment should be in psychiatric units in district general hospitals

·      that as much care and treatment as possible should be provided outside hospitals.

The development of mental health wards in the middle of general medical wards proved problematic, and the approach is now to situate such wards on the periphery of the district general hospital site or on a dedicated site. This last theme has been the focus of much recent policy development, firstly with the development of community mental health teams to support patients in the community and, more recently, with the publication of the National Service Framework for Mental Health, the establishment of crisis intervention and home treatment teams. These teams are designed to obviate, wherever pos-sible, the need to admit people in crisis and, if admission if required, to expedite their discharge from hospital.