Long-stay patients in a psychiatric day hospital. A case note review.

The case notes of all non-psychogeriatric patients attending the Psychiatric Day Hospital at the University Hospital of South Manchester during one week in October 1982 were reviewed. Clinical, demographic, social and occupational data were gathered for all patients, and their attendance at the day hospital monitored for the year following the census period. No significant differences between patients could be found on any of the factors that it was predicted would distinguish short from long-stay patients. The best predictor of length of day hospital attendance in the current admission was the total quantity of previous hospital treatment whether as an in-patient or a day-patient. It is concluded that in the day hospital studied all patients had similar characteristics, and the majority could be seen as 'new long-stay' patients. The implications of this finding are discussed.