Skip Navigation


BJSW Advance Access originally published online on August 15, 2005
British Journal of Social Work 2005 35(6):863-879; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch222
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
35/6/863    most recent
bch222v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Glasby, J.
Right arrow Articles by Lester, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

On the Inside: A Narrative Review of Mental Health Inpatient Services

Jon Glasby and Helen Lester

Jon Glasby is a Senior Lecturer at the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham.

Helen Lester is a Reader in the Department of Primary Care, University of Birmingham.

Correspondence to Jon Glasby, Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham, Park House, 40 Edgbaston Park Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2RT. E-mail: J.Glasby{at}bham.ac.uk

This paper describes and discusses the results of a narrative review of inpatient mental health services in the UK. Four main themes emerge from the review: the growing pressure on inpatient hospital services; the negative experience of inpatient services reported by many service users; the problematic nature of hospital discharge; and possible alternatives to hospital admission. This review also suggests that a failure to recognize and act on what appears to be happening in hospitals could result in inpatient care once again being subject to the scrutiny and criticism that cast a shadow over psychiatric services in the 1960s and 1970s. To stop this happening, current government policy is right to focus attention back onto acute care through new guidance and by commissioning research. However, changes also need to take place at a practice level so that front line workers are familiar with conditions in local acute services and can challenge unacceptable behaviour/services in support of their service users. With current changes in the make-up of local mental health services and a greater emphasis on partnership working between health and social care, it may be that social care practitioners can do this not only from the outside, but increasingly ‘on the inside’ (from within integrated health and social care organizations).

Keywords: Mental health, acute inpatient care, hospital admission, hospital discharge


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.