Auditing psychiatric day hospitals: The user's views in an inner city setting

Abstract

The importance of assessing the user's view of services is rapidly becoming a central concern for both purchasers and providers of mental health services. We conducted a questionnaire interview study of day hospital attenders in 1992 and 1993. The reasons for attendance, satisfaction with this service, links with alternative community services and the evaluation of groups within the day hospital setting were investigated. Social factors were the most important reasons for attendance. Overall, satisfaction was very high, although specific areas demonstrated improvements between the 1992 and 1993 surveys. Consistently positive views of self-selecting groups, of all sizes, were reported. In contrast, few attenders received significant support from other care agencies. Users' views may need to be compared with other measures and across other settings. However, this study has implications for research into care management and into the therapeutic process in day care.