Abstract
The establishment of realistic read-mission rates has always been a problem for the Mental Hospital Administrator. A cohort of discharges from Brandon Hospital for Mental Diseases, discharged in the years 1953–57 inclusive, of 1,113 patients, was followed in the community for five years to establish time specific readmission rates. The results reported indicate the following:
1) Most of the patients lost to the study were lost during the first year of the follow-up.
2) The readmission rate for males during the full five-year period was slightly lower than for females. First admission discharges had lower read-mission rates than readmission discharges.
3) Schizophrenic patients exhibit the highest readmission rates.
4) Almost half the readmissions for the whole five-year period occurred during the first year following discharge.
5) In general, readmission rates declined the longer patients stayed out of hospital.