Dangerous patients with mental illness: increased risks warrant new policies, adequate resources, and appropriate legislation

摘要

British people have become increasingly concerned about the risk of violence from patients with severe mental illness who have been discharged into the community. A few incidents have received considerable media attention and left a strong impression of the potential dangerousness of psychotic patients. Subsequent inquiries have revealed serious shortcomings both in the clinical management and supervision of these patients, with failures in liaison and cooperation between agencies being coupled with inadequate service provision, particularly of secure inpatient beds. The government has become increasingly vulnerable to opposition or pressure groups that will seize any opportunity to criticise its programme of care in the community. Health ministers may now be questioning whether current policies are adequate to deal with a growing crisis of public confidence and whether the proposed new mental health legislation will deal with the problem.