Mental Illness
Sir, —The key to better conditions for mental patients is better stalling, and the key to that is better status, conditions and renumeration for psychiatrists, social workers and nurses, as “J.C.” says. The psychiatrist has not only a long training as a doctor, but requires many further years of specialist study in psychotherapy and psychological medicine. Yet many young doctors, not long from medical school, can earn more in general practice. Increased remuneration and staffing are not the only solutions. Basic organisation may need changing, too. Psychiatry today is a highly specialised field achieving wonderful results, but each doctor and his- team, can handle only a small group. Doctors in mental hospitals are no longer “keepers of the insane,” but not sufficient adjustments have been made to the new age in the matter of staffing and conditions.— Yours, etc., DOUGLAS C. McKECHNIE. Geraldine, May 7, 1959. [This correspondence may now cease.—Ed., “The Press.”]
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28889, 8 May 1959, Page 8
Word Count
155Mental Illness Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28889, 8 May 1959, Page 8
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