Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-26T07:01:50.717Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Observation Ward and the Psychiatric Emergency

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

R. P. Snaith  and
S. Jacobson
R. P. Snaith
Affiliation:
St. Francis Hospital
S. Jacobson
Affiliation:
St. Francis Hospital, Haywards Heath
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In 1937 an excellent investigation, by Pentreath and Dax, of the work of a London observation ward appeared in the Journal of Mental Science. In the course of their conclusions, they pointed out that: “observation wards are still in their infancy so far as their developmental possibilities are concerned—in fact, we are still in the process of deciding what their purpose should be.” In the ferment of ideas that culminated in the Mental Health Act of 1959, and the fresh insights into administrative psychiatry which have followed, the future function of such units seems to have received little attention. Freeman and Farndale's book Trends in the Mental Health Services (1963) does not introduce the concept of the psychiatric emergency, nor does it consider any special provision for these patients.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 111 , Issue 470 , January 1965 , pp. 18 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1965 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benady, D. R., and Denham, J. (1963). Brit. med. J., 1569.Google Scholar
Cohen, N. A., and Haldane, F. P. (1962). Ibid., 1113.Google Scholar
Dunkley, E. W., and Lewis, E. (1963). Ibid., 157.Google Scholar
Early, Donal F. (1962). Pub. Health, 76, 261.Google Scholar
Eilenberg, M. D., Pritchard, M. J., and Whatmore, P. B. (1962). Brit. J. Prev. Soc. Med., 16, 22.Google Scholar
Freeman, H., and Farndale, J. (1963). Trends in the Mental Health Service. Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Lancet (1936). ii, 799.Google Scholar
Lancet (1962). 1107.Google Scholar
Norris, Vera (1959). Mental Illness in London. Maudsley Monograph.Google Scholar
Pentreath, E. U. H., and Dax, E. Cunningham (1937). J. Ment. Sci., 83, 347.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.