Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T19:49:19.695Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Demented Elderly admitted to a Psychogeriatric Assessment Unit

Changes in Disability and Outcome from 1977–1982

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

J. M. Eagles  and
C. J. Gilleard
J. M. Eagles
Affiliation:
University Department of Mental Health, Clinical Research Centre, Royal Cornhill Hospital, Cornhill Road, Aberdeen. Royal Edinburgh Hospital
C. J. Gilleard
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Forty-one demented patients admitted to a psychogeriatric assessment unit in 1977–78 were matched by diagnosis, sex and living group prior to admission with forty-one patients admitted to the same Unit in 1981–82. While the two cohorts showed no significant difference in their overall levels of disability at the time of admission, the latter group were more disabled at the time of discharge and were more likely to be placed in long-stay hospital care. The 1981–82 cohort stayed significantly longer in the assessment unit. These differences suggest that health and social service resources are failing to keep pace with the rising numbers of demented elderly patients.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 144 , Issue 3 , March 1984 , pp. 314 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arie, T. (1971) Morale and planning of psychogeriatric services. British Medical Journal, 3, 166–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergmann, K. (1977) Chronic brain failure—epidemiological aspects. Age and Ageing, 6 (Supplement), 4–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chief Scientist Organisation (1980) Report on the working party on the care of the elderly. Health Bulletin (Edinburgh) 38, 252–65.Google Scholar
Christie, A. B. (1982) Changing patterns of mental illness in the elderly. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 154–9.Google Scholar
Gilleard, C. J., Pattie, A. H. & Dearman, G. (1980) Behavioural disabilities of psychogeriatric patients and residents of old peoples' homes. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 34, 106–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isaacs, B., Livingstone, M. & Neville, Y. (1972) Survival of the unfittest. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Jolley, D. J. & Arie, T. (1978) Organisation of psychogeriatric services. British Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 1–11.Google Scholar
Masterton, G., Holloway, E. M. & Timbury, G. C. (1981) Role of local authority homes in the care of the dependent elderly: a prospective study. British Medical Journal, 282, 523–4.Google Scholar
Pullen, I. (1980) Admission rates of old people to Scottish psychiatric units. British Medical Journal, 281, 843.Google Scholar
Robinson, R. A. (1979) Some applications of rating scales in dementia. In: Alzheimer's Disease. (eds Glen, A. I. M. and Whalley, L. J.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Shulman, K. & Arie, T. (1978) Fall in admission rates of old people to psychiatric units. British Medical Journal, 1, 156–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, E. G. & Eastwood, M. R. (1981) Survivorship and senile dementia, Age and Ageing, 10, 29–32.Google Scholar
Wilkin, D., Mashiah, T. & Jolley, D. J. (1978) Changes in behavioural characteristics of elderly populations of local authority homes and long-stay hospital wards, 1976–77. British Medical Journal, 2, 1274–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.