The effect of the Community Care Act 1990 on discharge from a psychogeriatric unit to residential and nursing homes.

This study compares the proportion of patients discharged to residential and nursing homes from a psychogeriatric unit and the length of hospital admissions before and after the introduction of the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990. This Act appeared not to influence the proportion of patients discharged to residential and nursing homes and the length of hospital admission. A year after the introduction of this Act may be too soon to observe an effect as the actual implementation of the Act by the health and social services may take considerable time.