The pattern of psychiatric admissions to a hospital for people with a learning disability in the Grampian region between 1989 and 1991.

It is known that a substantial proportion of people with a learning disability also have associated emotional problems in the form of psychiatric illness and disturbed behaviour. In the UK various health authorities are developing in-patient facilities for assessment and treatment of this group of people by default rather than by planning. We report the prospective findings of psychiatric admissions to a hospital for learning disabled people in the Grampian region of Scotland over a three year period between 1.1.89 to 31.12.91. Nine beds were deemed necessary for a health district with a general population of 500,000. Average bed occupancy was 66.7%. The most common conditions leading up to an admission was disturbed behaviour followed by affective disorder and psychoses. The majority of the admissions were of adults with a mild to moderate degree of learning disability as opposed to severe and profound learning disability. A hard-core group of patients had many re-admissions. Some acute admissions became long-stays (over one year), although average stay of admissions were between four to six weeks.