A survey of a long-stay psychiatric population: implications for community services.

Two hundred and twenty long-stay psychiatric patients were surveyed by means of semi-standardized interviews and by obtaining information from nursing staff and case records. Each patient's needs for accommodation and employment were assessed as if immediate discharge from hospital were being contemplated. The results of the exercise emphasize the need for long-stay to permanent accommodation. The validity of this method of assessing community care requirements is discussed.