Supervised discharge of mentally ill people

EDITOR, - We endorse Robert Bluglass's comments1 concerning recommendations for the care of mentally ill people in the community.2 In particular, we share his concern that, in its present form, supervised discharge may not be an advance on current guardianship arrangements.

We recently conducted a postal survey to determine the attitudes of consultant general psychiatrists working with adults in the Oxford region towards the proposed new legal powers (supervised discharge, extended leave of absence, and guardianship). Part of the questionnaire was adapted from a survey into attitudes towards community supervision orders.3 After five weeks there had been a 71% (37/52) response rate.

Supervised discharge - Thirty …