Abstract
Modern methods of treatment of mental disease enable the average length of stay in hospital to be drastically reduced. The former overcrowding is therefore disappearing; in fact, it should be possible to contemplate a reduction in the size of the hospitals, particularly if new admissions are kept to a minimum by the provision of efficient out-patient clinics and of adequate geriatric and domiciliary nursing services. Taking recent trends in England and Wales as his starting point, the author outlines ways in which a modern mental health service might be built up around existing facilities under a variety of conditions. He advocates that, as far as possible, the treatment of mental disease should be integrated into general medicine, and emphasises the need for close co-operation between psychiatrists, family doctors, and the staff of general hospitals.
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