Article Abstract:
A government inquiry found only 700 medium secure hospital beds in the UK although 1,500 are needed. Lack of care of schizophrenic Christopher Clunis led to the murder of Jonathan Zito. Any inquiry into this case should investigate the adequacy of community supervision, psychiatric provision and consider the possibility of failure by the Crown Prosecution Service or the police. The National Health Service inquiry will not investigate general psychiatric and social service practice. Patients may be detained 'in the interests of their own health' under the 1983 Mental Health Act.
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Article Abstract:
Incidents over recent years have shown that mental health services in the UK are failing to care properly for the severely mentally ill. Distribution of resources does not take into account the wide variation in needs across urban and rural areas, and most funding still goes to hospital-based care, at a time when service users and their families are seeking more flexible, community-based arrangements. Patients are often offered nothing more than drug treatment, when they really need help with issues such as employment and finance.
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Article Abstract:
A dramatised version of the official report into the fatal stabbing of Jonathan Zito by paranoid schizophrenic Christopher Clunis in Dec 1992 is being used to convey important messages to health and social workers about how the tragedy could have been prevented. It shows how Clunis did not receive adequate treatment, and encourages the audience, made up of social workers, police officers, doctors, community psychiatric nurses and purchasing directors, to look at the broader picture of how mentally ill patients are cared for.
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