Needs for care among the long-term mentally ill: a report from the Camberwell High Contact Survey.

We report the results of a survey of the needs for items of care of 145 long-term users of psychiatric day-hospitals and day-centres in Camberwell. The overall ratio of met to unmet need was almost exactly 5:1. Need was shown to vary according to chronicity, degree of participation, and placement in day-hospital or day-centre. Specific areas of functioning and specific types of care were identified in which there was significant overprovision or underprovision. The utility of our measures, and their ability to identify clinically significant unmet need, are discussed.