Sectorisation and Social Control: The Alternative to the Mental Hospital

Abstract

Some of the general characteristics in the shift of patient care from the hospital to the community were described in Chapter 3. We will now be more specific and outline the setting in which patients receive treatment. The modern system which we describe is called sectorisation. Under this system patients are treated by community psychiatric teams. Treatment is mainly conducted in the community, but patients are transferred to the hospital, if required. It is the community teams who will look after the patients in hospital and again when they return to the community. This provides continuity of treatment and care. (At least this is what is supposed to happen.) The teams are organised in sectors taking responsibility for a population of about 100 000 people per sector. In this chapter we shall look at the way patients are referred to different parts of the system, showing how and when they leave hospital and the part the hospital plays in the process — including the impact that recent mental health legislation has had on patient care.