The psychiatric inpatient population from Salford was analysed in five successive annual censuses, from 1 January 1968 to 1 January 1972. Short-stay and medium-stay patients (under one year) remained constant. Long-stay patients reduced only slowly, and the length of stay increased. Over 200 patients (60%) had been in for 20 years or more at 1 January 1972. Analysis showed that the 1968 long-stay cohort diminished by 122 patients (29%) in four years, while 54 new long-stay patients accumulated. There seems little prospect of emptying large psychiatric hospitals of their long-stay population.
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