Institution News
Services for the Mentally Handicapped Blue Book published.
Services for the Mentally Handicapped [SHHD/SED] Blue Book. estimated that, in 1970, there were about 8,500 patients with learning disabilities in long-stay institutions (including in psychiatric as well as ‘mental deficiency’ hospitals). It calculated that 25% of these patients might be better catered for in hostels in the community (2,200 hostel places), which meant a continuing need for 6,300 long-term hospital beds. It committed Scotland to the same overall aims in respect to provision as E&W, but the E& W targets were to be achieved over a 10 year (rather than 20 years as was the case for Scotland). The percentage of clients in all forms of residential provision were to be 20% higher than in E&W and hospital provision was intended to form a higher proportion of residential provision: (75% of places, cf with 50% in E&W). Thus the reduction in hospital beds in Scotland was much less than for E&W and the pace of de-institutionalization was considerably slower. But the increase in LA residential provision was much greater because of past neglect.