Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Current Issues in Addictions and Mental Health (Canada) "Advice from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) directed to all levels of government and all political parties about how to address the needs of people with mental illness and addictions. Reforming health care funding and delivery in Canada is high on the public and political agenda. Unfortunately, mental illness and addictions remain largely absent from these debates despite the fact that twenty percent of Canadians in any given year suffer from a broad range of mental illness or addiction, and 3% suffer profound and persistent disablement." The paper is also available in
Adobe Acrobat format.
Minorities Feel Cheated in Health Care Brief Reuters Health story at
Medscape - "U.S. blacks and Hispanics feel they get worse health care than their white compatriots, according to a study published on Monday. The study, published in
Health Affairs, found that blacks and Hispanics are up to three times more likely than whites to feel that minorities receive a lower level of care..." "med"
Mental health facilities see more readmissions (Tennessee) Chatanooga Times Free Press story reprinted at the NAMI web site - "The number of people returning to Tennessee mental health facilities within 30 days of their discharge has more than quadrupled since 1995, state records show. ... State and local officials said last week they are monitoring the growing number.Joe Swenford, director of the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disability's office of consumer affairs, said the demand for mental health services is up overall. And the nature of mental health care is not a one-treatment, one-prescription fix, officials said. ... Experts said a strapped mental health system is limiting services for people once they are discharged from Moccasin Bend, leaving them to fend for themselves after emergency care.
"Hospital won't take dangerous patients" (Wisconsin) Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story - "Citing the 'financial pressure' of providing hospitalization for mental patients, St. Michael Hospital will stop taking emergency detention mental patients Dec. 1, Covenant Healthcare officials said Tuesday. The hospital will continue, however, to use its 23-bed unit to hospitalize mental patients who are not in need of emergency detention, said Jim Gresham, president of behavioral health for Covenant. Emergency detention patients are those considered an immediate danger to themselves or others."
Mental health agency to target most needy (Texas) Amarillo Globe-News story - "Texas Panhandle Mental Health Mental Retardation is piloting a mental health treatment program that will focus on the sickest clients and move the less sick out of its care. The agency is one of four statewide that began using a technique called disease management to classify clients based on diagnosis and level of functioning and offer them one of five levels of care. The point of disease management and service bundling, called benefit design, is to efficiently target people with chronic mental illness and treat them to prevent relapse and complications."
Fears over elderly mental health care (UK)
BBC story - "An investigation into mistreatment of elderly mental health patients in Manchester has led to wider concerns about levels of care. The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) investigation condemned standards at Withington Hospital's Rowan ward. The watchdog said it was the third investigation into the care of vulnerable elderly patients, raising fears about practices across the country." See also the related story,
Anger over 'institutional abuse' - "Charities working with the elderly and people with mental health issues have reacted strongly to a report which condemned a mental health ward for older people in Manchester."
