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Admission of the homeless mentally ill in the UK

University of Birmingham, Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Northern Birmingham Mental Health Trust, Trust Headquarters, 71 Fentham Road, Erdington, Birmingham B23 6AL

Sue Odell, Research Associate

University of Birmingham

See editorial pp. 195–197, this issue.

^* Correspondence

The reduction in psychiatric beds over the past few decades has coincided with burgeoning homelessness in the UK. What effect has this had on the provision of in-patient care to this neglected section of the population? Admissions of people of ‘no fixed abode’ in Birmingham were compared for the years 1961–1964 and 1995–1996. Both the number of admissions and duration of in-patient episodes had decreased and many patients continued to receive no aftercare. Solutions to the problem of homelessness among the severely mentally ill must address failings in hospital as well as community services.