March 26, 2013

Community Treatment Orders – denying civil liberties with due cause?

The best method for introducing psychiatric patients into the community has always been controversial. For many years experts called for compulsory supervision outside hospitals (Community Treatment Orders) and they have proved popular in many countries (in Australia every 1000^th adult in the country has one). They were introduced in the UK in 2008 but, until now, there has been little robust data to show whether they work or not.

In a study to be published in The Lancet, researchers conducted a randomised controlled trial of over three hundred patients, to determine whether there was any impact on the number of patients being readmitted, the time to readmission or how long they stayed in hospital.

The researchers came to the SMC to discuss the results and implications of their work.

Speakers:

Prof Tom Burns, Chair of Social Psychiatry, University of Oxford

Dr Jorun Rugkåsa, Resarch Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford