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What Happens to Patients Released from the Special Hospitals?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Paul Bowden
Paul Bowden*
Affiliation:
Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals, London SE5
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Summary

NHS consultants who are asked to accept Special Hospital patients can judge the prognosis, since the extent of both psychiatric and criminal histories provides the most accurate prediction of future behaviour. Patients discharged to the community have different outcomes from those transferred to NHS hospitals, but overall about one in five of those released are returned to a Special Hospital; up to one in two will subsequently be convicted, but the offences are mainly trivial and directed at property. Perhaps one in ten will be involved in serious or homicidal acts of violence.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 138 , Issue 4 , April 1981 , pp. 340 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981 

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