BMJ 1998;316:552 (14 February)

Letters

Measures are needed to allow elderly inpatients to vote in general elections

Editor–Smith and Humphreys expressed concern over the eligibility of patients detained under the Mental Health Act to vote.1 We have similar worries about elderly patients losing their opportunity to vote.

We interviewed 248 patients (87% of the total geriatric inpatient population) on 10 geriatric wards in two Leeds hospitals within 14 days of last year's general election. A medical assessment was made of the patient's fitness to vote on the day. Patients were not interviewed if they were too unwell or were away from the ward. Altogether 190 were in hospital on the day of the election, of whom 115 were judged medically fit to vote. Only 19 voted, all by prearranged postal vote. Sixty six of the remainder stated that they would have voted had they been at home. Fifty eight patients were home at the time of the election. Of these, 46 were medically fit to vote and . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Changes in laws are necessary to allow patients detained under Mental Health Act to vote
Helen Smith and Martin Humphreys
BMJ 1997 315: 431. [Extract] [Full Text]

Rapid Responses:

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Postal votes might be a solution
Anne-Louise Cunnington
bmj.com, 29 Jun 1999 [Full text]
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