Care of mentally ill patients
Sir, — John Dobson’s statement (“The Press,” June 7) that it costs $BO a day for each mental hospital patient is correct today but, of course, needs comparison with what it would cost if a sensible proportion of our 660 former patients (in Christchurch alone) came back to do productive work. I believe it was $35 a week 20 years ago. Cleaning, catering and garden work in your own home never constituted exploitation. In return for their labour, the patients had “asylum,” a beautiful word meaning place of refuge or protection. Leyland Bell died his horrible death because this need was forgotten. Maybe a majority of expatients would prefer to stay in their group homes rather than return to the potato fields at Templeton. Whether they should be given a choice is really the issue under debate — and this, in the final analysis, is a matter of Government policy. — Yours, etc., A. C. ESPERSEN, Nelson. June 7, 1984.
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Press, 13 June 1984, Page 18
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162Care of mentally ill patients Press, 13 June 1984, Page 18
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