Who walks through the 'revolving-door' of a British psychiatric hospital?

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate factors that increase the chances of British psychiatric patients having multiple hospital re-admissions. Data were collected on all 128 patients who had been admitted to a psychiatric ward in the course of a year. Patients who had been admitted at least three times to the hospital were classified as 'Revolving-door' patients and compared to patients with less than three admissions. From the 128 studied patients, 51% had three or more re-admissions. The results indicate that 'Revolving-door' patients were more likely to be living alone, in hostels or private accommodation and to have an earlier age of illness-onset and have used psychiatric services for a longer period. They were also likely to have been prescribed more medication and to have been diagnosed with psychoactive substance abuse. In addition, the results of a logistic regression analysis indicate that 'relapse of psychosis' is the best predictor for re-admission. Implications for community-care services are discussed.