Tax Payers Pay For Spiritual Well Being in Hospitals!

The UK tax payer pays $40 million a year for the spiritual well being of patients regardless of religion. There's Muslim and Christians to name 2 but a few more are available and there is anywhere up to 6 chapels per hospital.

Now don't get me wrong as I believe everybody has a right to religion no matter what that religion may be but do you honestly believe that I should have to pay for it. I'm not a church going person nor am I anti any specific religion but can you tell me that there is any self respecting Christian or Muslim that feels good about paying money towards any other religion whether they like it or not?

In England we have a major row going on about the British National Party (a political party that believes England for the English first and foremost) are now racist because they want to crack down on illegal immigration and unwanted nationals who are already in England. In this day and age when certain nations enforce their way of life upon their visitors and get away with it in the name of religion or historical right and England can't stand up for itself without being called racist or anti everybody else.

An excerpt from the UK Border Agency posted 24 February 2009:

"In the three months to December last year, there were 29,000 applications from workers from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia and the Czech Republic - down from 53,000 in the same period in 2007. The decrease is mainly explained by a drop in approved Polish applicants, which fell to 16,000 in the last quarter of 2008 from 36,000 in the same period in 2007."

Here we have a perfect example. The NHS (National Health Trust) is the main reason for half the immigrants that come here from Eastern Europe and Asia as it is a free health care. This has caused a massive strain on the limited resources that the NHS has and has resulted in long waiting time for some treatments and operations. On top of this they foot the bill to the tune of 40 Million (+$65 Million) which I believe could be better spent on resources to help ease the strain caused by the mass in flood of immigrants. This could pay the salaries for a much needed additional 1,500 nurses and then some.

An excerpt from the Guardian article posted April 2008:

"Net immigration has added 1.5 million people to the population over the last 10 years. Two-thirds of them have come from the continents of Asia and Africa. People born overseas account for about 10% of the UK population of 60.6m."

Please don't get me wrong on this subject either as I was an immigrant in South Africa myself but I have chosen to return to England as this is my place of birth and if migration wasn't allowed we wouldn't have the mixture of communities we do have to day all over the world.

Where my gripe is is with people who migrate to another country and then make demands on that country to include all aspects of their way of life into the host country whilst back in their home country they oppress and murder the migrants of their host country. This has even gone so far as to ensure that they can openly practise religion whilst oppressing other religions, expecting special treatment with regards their beliefs and eating habits, and get this, they're now pushing to try and have some of their "Religious beliefs" incorporated into the UK's government operations.

As all country men and women feel about their country, so I feel about mine. My family history runs back to the medieval times and I have a strong sense of patriotism welling up inside of me but believe we can live together if we respect the country to which we are not nationals.

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The Hungry Payer

If you give a pig a pancake... Everyone knows what happens in that children's book. The pig wants more, and more, and more. We don't have to spell out the analogy. Insurance companies have been taking pancakes from providers for years. Every year, they come back for more. Recently, Pacificare was found guilty of incorrectly processing 30% of claims. Give an inch, take a mile.

Make no mistake, providers are locked in a power struggle with insurance companies, who have the advantage in size, technology, people, and processes. It costs more today to fight for proper reimbursement than ever before. And the payers are escalating the battle. Post-payment audits, refund requests, underpayments, partial payments, late payments, and flat-out denials proliferate and constantly knock practices off-balance. They waste time, energy, and focus.

Recently, practices have asked: "Is it worth it?" "Why don't we just accept whatever they pay us instead of fighting for what's ours?" On the surface, it seems plausible -- save a lot of money, time, and energy on fighting a $10 "processing error". It costs more to fight for the $10. But the results can be disastrous. Giving up $10 today tells the payer that we're content with the lower reimbursement. The next step is to ask for more. $10 turns into $15, $20, the entire payment. Reimbursements drop lower and lower -- an endless spiral.

But that's not the worst part. Lack of action on certain denials may red-flag an office for a costly audit. For example, if services are routinely submitted and denied pending medical records, and a practice refuses to send the records, the obvious conclusion is that the practice doesn't have those records -- a nice juicy target for an audit.

We know that appeasement is not a long-term solution, especially when practiced with an adversary who is constantly looking for ways to fatten the bottom line. The only solution is to fight. But how?

Outsourced Billing

Hiring staff to fight for claims and take action on denials is not for everyone. Staff adds a fixed overhead and needs constant management. Vacation days, sick days, health insurance -- all take their toll on a small business. And then there's the constant, nagging question: "Now that I have an effective biller, what happens if I lose them?"

Small practices often turn to outsourced billing companies to fight for their money, entrusting the billing company to carry the fight for them, without distracting the practice from its primary mission of serving patients. But not all billing companies are created equal.

Traditional Billing

The term "billing company" describes precisely what traditional outsourced billing services do: they bill. Their entire business model is wrapped around entering charges into a billing system and filing the claims on behalf of the provider. Fighting for claims is an afterthought. When the overworked billing company staff has time, they look through aging reports and call on outstanding balances. Thus, a practice that entrusts a traditional billing service with fighting for reimbursement very often suffers from lower collections than when they were fighting for reimbursement in-house.

Fighting Services

Enter the new breed of billing services: Claim Fighting Services. Claim Fighting Services are built around follow-up. Everything else supports that. Unlike billing services, fighting services are built from the ground-up to wage war for reimbursement. First, they have dedicated staff for follow-up. The follow-up staff has no other job. They are the soldiers, and they are never distracted from their mission. They make up the bulk of the fight services staff.

Next, fighting services automate everything possible that distracts from the fight. Claim entry is done at the provider's office. Errors are flagged up-front and dealt with at the time of service. Claim submission is fully automated. Reimbursements are auto-posted where possible. Nothing extra is added. Every feature is focused on one thing: helping the fighting service fight for reimbursement.

Fighting services require accountability. Every biller (read soldier) has a workbench -- a target list -- that tells them precisely which claims to work today. Managers oversee the process and make sure that workbenches are completed daily so claims never wait more than necessary before being sent back to the payers. Accountability works both ways. A significant portion of claims need provider input before the fight can continue. Fighting services have a system to make providers accountable so that every claim is worked, even if it needs provider input.

The Long Road Ahead

Fighting services are not a panacea. They are only as effective as the providers that they represent. They form a partnership with the provider, in which the key ingredient on both sides is commitment. Commitment to continually improve the process on both sides. Commitment to keep open the lines of communication between the provider and the service to prevent payers from sowing the seeds of doubt. Most of all, commitment to work together to surmount all obstacles and make the payers pay.

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2009 Top Healthcare Payer Ito Vendors, Black Book Survey 2009 Results

In order to rank the organizations, 18 key performance indicators (KPIs) or criteria are employed, scored on each respective vendor in ITO initiatives, and ranked on a 110 scale in mean format. The key follows in the report detail.
Slices of the data fields (provided in the registration of ballot submitters) allow Black Book to also determine the top rankings among provider and payer outsourcing users, and by function and project type as described/defined directly by the user.

Key findings
Key finding: the most important customer satisfaction KPIs increased significantly in all healthcare payer client types in 200910
In 2009, payers' most important attributes influencing their satisfaction with their outsourcing suppliers were cost-based. KPIs in scalability, client adaptability and flexible pricing and marginal value adds were identified by the majority of payers and insurers as the major satisfaction drivers from their contractual outsourcing arrangements.
Technology enhancements were the most important issues to hospitals and health systems and provided client satisfaction in 2009. Confidence in innovation, best of breed technology, data security and back-up protection and successful integrations and interfaces are the most overwhelmingly important attributes influencing hospital customers' satisfaction with their outsourcing providers.
Relationships were the most important attributes influencing government healthcare customers' satisfaction with their outsourcing providers, specifically naming support and customer care, customizations and reliability as 2009s key deal keepers.
Key finding: ITO vendor dissatisfaction is rare in the healthcare payer industry
Real dissatisfaction is uncommon in the health plan sector, occurring in only 4.9% of contracts, increasing satisfaction over 50% from managed care client user responses recorded in 200708.
Key finding: in healthcare payer ITO contracts, single-vendor arrangements produce the highest satisfaction rates
Single-vendors offering both comprehensive ITO and bundled ITO/BPO services to healthcare clients are the highest rated overall.
Key finding: payers greatly increase outsourcing spend in 2009
Payers are accelerating their spending on outsourcing, largely driven by national initiatives toward EMR adoption. Collectively, payers that outsource believe that the level of ITO service they receive from their outsourcer is an improvement over the services they have received previously.
Healthcare payers ITO top honors overall 2009
Top honors overall
Hexaware Caliber Point

Healthcare payers ITO top vendor by function 2009
Applications development and maintenance
Hexaware Caliber Point

Infrastructure management
CGI

Professional IT services
CSC

QA and bundled ITO/BPO services
Hexaware Caliber Point



Table of Contents :
INTRODUCTION 5
Impact of the economic stimulus package 7
Target users of the survey 7
The Black Book of Outsourcings healthcare payer vertical survey 7
SUMMARY 9
Survey overview 9
Using Black Book to evaluate healthcare payer industry vendors 9
Key findings 10
Healthcare payers ITO top honors overall 2009 10
Healthcare payers ITO top vendor by function 2009 10
Most important factors in choosing your vendor 11
Healthcare industry increases use of outsourced IT and ITO: market activity increases sharply in Q4 2009 forward 12
Findings review 12
BLACK BOOK METHODOLOGY 13
How the data sets are collected 13
Understanding the statistical confidence of Black Book data 13
Who participates in the Black Book ranking process 14
Mid-market HRO vendor rankings and results, 2009 14
TOP 20 HEALTHCARE PAYERS ITO VENDORS 15
STOP LIGHT SCORING KEY 16
Operational excellence of healthcare payers ITO vendors 16
OVERALL KPI LEADERS 21
Top score per individual criteria 21
Outsourcing vendors with most top individual criteria scores 22
INDIVIDUAL KEY PERFORMANCE 23
APPENDIX 42
Orbys consulting 42
Disclaimer 42

For more information please visit :

/reports/2009-Top-Healthcare-Payer-ITO-Vendors-Black-Book-Survey-2009-Results-44661.html

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Health Care Reform Debate - Single Payer Vs The Public Option

There are three options facing the United States in today's health care reform debate, what follows is a compare and contrast between those three options.

(1)No Real Change

The first option is to not make a significant change to the system. This is the choice of the insurance industry which is making billions of dollars of profits even during this economic recession. This is the choice being pushed by the Republicans and "Blue Dog"Democrats in the House & Senate since they are effectively bought off by the insurance industry. This is also the choice we can quickly dismiss because we cannot continue on the same road we are on now.

The system we have now is seriously broken. It costs more than any other system in the world and yet our actual health care is far worse than many other nations. The US health system is ranked #37 in the world by the World Health Organization and we rank #50 in life expectancy (yes that means the people in 49 countries live longer than we do on average.) We have about 50 million uninsured people. Furthermore this is more than just a health issue, it's also an economic issue. If our current system is left unchanged it will bankrupt our nation.

(2) The Public Option

The second option is "The Public Option."This is being pushed by President Obama and by most of the Democrats in the House &Senate. It allows for the creation of a "public health insurance plan" much like Medicare. This plan would allow people to either stick with their current health care insurance or to choose the government plan instead.

This would drive down costs because the government plan would be less expensive than the private insurance plans available now, and the new competition would force down prices at the private insurance companies. So even if you do not choose the public option yourself, it would positively effect you.

The Public Option is a compromise between the first position of no change and the 3rd position which is true universal health care known as "single payer."

(3) Single Payer

The "Single Payer" is the government. This means that everyones health care needs would be covered by a government health care plan. It would work somewhat like Medicare except instead of only certain people being eligible, every American would be.

This would greatly reduce costs and paperwork. It would cover every single American with no questions asked. It would most likely result in far better health coverage for Americans. Other countries have in place similar health care systems and they spend far less than we do on health care and get far better health care results and live longer than we do. Simply put this is the obvious choice that we should be making.

The problem is that it would effectively kill the health insurance industry and they are far too powerful in Washington to let that happen. That means while this is definitely the right choice for the American people, we are unlikely to see it actually happen because too many rich fat cats have corrupted our political system.

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Diagnosing Personality Disorders

Personality traits are enduring, usually rigid patterns of behavior, thinking (cognition), and emoting expressed in a variety of circumstances and situations and throughout one's life (typically from early adolescence onward). Some personality traits are harmful to both oneself and to others. These are the dysfunctional traits. Often they cause discomfort and the person bearing these traits is unhappy and self-critical. This is called ego-dystony. At other times, even the most pernicious personality traits are happily endorsed and even flaunted by the patient. This is called "ego-syntony".

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) describes 12 ideal "prototypes" of personality disorders. It provides lists of seven to nine personality traits per each disorder. These are called "diagnostic criteria". Whenever five of these criteria are met, a qualified mental health diagnostician can safely diagnose the existence of a personality disorder.

But important caveats apply.

No two people are alike. Even subjects suffering from the same personality disorder can be worlds apart as far as their backgrounds, actual conduct, inner world, character, social interactions, and temperament go.

Diagnosing the existence of a personality trait (applying the diagnostic criteria) is an art, not a science. Evaluating someone's conduct, appraising the patient's cognitive and emotional landscape, and attributing motivation to him or her, is a matter of judgment. There is no calibrated scientific instrument that can provide us with an objective reading of whether one lacks empathy, is unscrupulous, is sexualizing situations and people, or is clinging and needy.

Regrettably, the process is inevitably tainted by value judgments as well. Mental health practitioners are only human (well, OK, some of them are...:o)). They hail from specific social, economic, and cultural backgrounds. They do their best to neutralize their personal bias and prejudices but their efforts often fail. Many critics charge that certain personality disorders are "culture-bound". They reflect our contemporary sensitivities and values rather than invariable psychological entities and constructs.

Thus, someone with the Antisocial Personality Disorder is supposed to disrespect social rules and regard himself as a free agent. He lacks conscience and is often a criminal. This means that non-conformists, dissenters, and dissidents can be pathologized and labeled "antisocial". Indeed, authoritarian regimes often incarcerate their opponents in mental asylums based on such dubious "diagnoses". Moreover, crime is a career choice. Granted, it is a harmful and unpalatable one. But since when is one's choice of vocation a mental health problem?

If you believe in telepathy and UFOs and have bizarre rituals, mannerisms, and speech patterns, you may be diagnosed with the Schizotypal Personality Disorder. If you shun others and are a loner, you may be a Schizoid. And the list goes on.

To avoid these pitfalls, the DSM came up with a multi-axial model of personality evaluation.

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Understanding Hospitalization Vis-

Health insurance is not widely understood in India. Very few actually are aware of it, out of those who know about health insurance some think it is similar to Life insurance, which it is not. Others dont know that mediclaim as it is known in India, only covers hospitalization charges not all health expenses. In this article, everything about hospitalization vis--vis insurance, like what it covers and doesnt will be explained.

Health insurance Companies have defined terms like hospital, hospitalization period, domiciliary hospitalization so that there is clarity about what is paid and what is not.

Here are some of the common definitions and what they mean

1) Hospital means any institution in India established for the indoor medical care and treatment of patients and which either:

a) Is registered and licensed as a hospital or nursing home with the appropriate local authorities and is under the Supervision of a Doctor in attendance 24 hours a day and is not, except incidentally, a clinic, nursing home, rest home, or convalescent home for the addicted, aged, mentally disturbed or similar institution, or

b) Complies with at least the following criteria:

i) It has at least 10 inpatient beds;

ii) It has a fully equipped and functioning operating theatre;

iii) It has qualified nursing staff (any person who holds a certificate issued by a recognized nursing council) in attendance 24 hours per day;

iv) It has a Doctor who is in attendance 24 hours per day;

v) It maintains daily medical records for each of its patients

What it means: It means that you cant just go to any hospital in your neighborhood or admit yourself in your General Physicians clinic with two beds. Health Insurance Companies in order to ensure quality and standard care to the patients make these conditions mandatory.

So before you get yourself or someone near you admitted make sure these basic conditions are fulfilled.

2) Hospitalization period: Hospitalization expenses will only be paid if hospitalization is for more than 24 hours.

It means that a visit to the hospital does not result in a payable claim per se.You need to be admitted for valid reasons for more than 24 hours for the coverage.

Exceptions: There are number of treatments called as Day Care Treatments which are covered even if they require less than one day of hospitalization. Some of these include- eye surgery, chemotherapy, tonsillectomy, surgery of throat etc. For the extensive list, read the policy wordings of the insurance company.

*There also might be a condition in some policies that these day care treatments need to be taken care of in Network Hospitals only.

What wont be paid? There are some treatments that wouldnt be paid in the first year of the policy even if they require more than 24 hours of treatments like Cataract, Hernia, Gastric ulcer, Dialysis of Chronic renal failure and internal tumors. Similarly there are treatments that wouldnt be paid for in the first 2/4 years. For more extensive list see your policy wordings.

3) Pre- Hospitalization expenses: These aremedical expenses relevant to the disease that results in hospitalization incurred during a period up to the number of days specified in this policy, prior to hospitalization for treatments of disease, illness or injury sustained as part of a claim admissible under the policy.

What it means:It means that you can claim all medical expenses that you undertook for the treatment before you were hospitalized, if the hospitalization is payable. Generally, all expenses incurred 30 days before the hospitalization can be claimed by providing proper receipts and reports required.

4) Post Hospitalization Expenses:These aremedical expenses relevant to the disease that resulted in hospitalisation incurred during a period up to the number of days specified in the policy, after hospitalization for treatments of disease, illness or injury sustained as part of a claim admissible under the policy.

What it means: It means that all the medical expenses incurred after the hospitalization can be claimed by the individual if the hospitalization is covered. Generally medical expenses up to 60 days from date of dischargecan be claimed by the person after submitting relevant documents and receipts.

What all is paid?

a) Ambulance charges: Ambulance charges will be paid in case the person has to be shifted from residence to hospital in Emergency/ ICU or from one hospital/Nursing Home to another Hospital/ Nursing Home by registered ambulance only for better facilities.

It means that Ambulance charges will only be paid in case of emergency or when patient is shifted to other hospitals for better facilities.

b) Domiciliary treatment: Medical treatment exceeding three days for such illness/disease/injury which in the normal course would require care and treatment at hospital/nursing as in- patient home but actually taken whilst confined at home in India under any of the following circumstances namely:

i)The patient is in such a condition that he/she cannot be removed to the hospital / Nursing Home. To know more about Understanding Hospitalization vis--vis insurance

Compare & Buy Best Health Insurance Policy

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Types of Mental Hospitals

Psychiatric Hospitals

Modern mental hospitals, once known as lunatic asylums have evolved into more organised institutions to help inthe treatment of people suffering from serious mental disorders. Once, in such places, patients were treated with horrible practices. Patients were seen as insane and treatment was based on restraining them and containing them from the 'normal' people on the outside.

Nowadays, patients being committed to mental hospitals will be treated very differently, with a whole different approach. Some patients are admitted on a voluntary basis, knowing and admitting that they need help. Others will be involuntary admmitted, as an individual may pose a significant danger to others, or themselves.

There is a variety of types of mental hospitals. Depending on the severity of a patient's mental illness and problems. Different institutes specialize in a range of support for patients. Some deal with only short-term care, others a more permanent fixture.

Suffering from any form of psychological disorder patients will require help with dealing with their problems within a controlled environment. The key goal of mental hospitals is to help a patient fully recover, or to help equipped them with the skills of handling their disorder better on the outside. Through the use of treatment, involving a combination of psychiatric drugs and psychotherapy.

Crisis Stabilization Unit

A patient will be committed here in the event of acting violent, suicidal, or any other critical behaviour. In a lot of cases, patients do not show any visible signs of injury or illness and are often just seeking attention.

This is basically an emergency room for psychiatry. Here, patients can receive prompt action, gentle response and effective support from mental health professionals within a respectful environment.

Emergency psychiatry is usually only a short-term basis, however, in the event of needing more care, a long-termstay is provided. Mental health professionals will access and evaluate each patient to determine the most appropriate level of care for that individual. If the patient has been involuntary committed and is unable to consent they will need to require a commitment order.

The goal of this type of institute, with the use of medication and psychiatric consultation when necessary, is to help work with patients to design plans of action to prevent future crises. Professionals will supply help on education on nutrition, coping skills, signs and symptoms of relapse, relapse prevention and medication management and education. They will encourage family members of the patient to be involved in the process.

Open Units

Open units are focused on making life for patients as normal and bearable as possible. Patients will continue treatment to the point where they can be discharged. Some open units are left unlocked, but it depends on the type of patients that are admitted. The majority of the time, patients are not allowed to hold their own medications in their rooms because of impulsive overdose risks.

Medium-Term

Psychiatric hospitals of this type may specialize in short-term care. Most institutions provide care which lasts several weeks, this is because most psychiatric drugs take several weeks to take effect. The main purpose simply being to monitor patients for the first few weeks to make sure the treatment is effective. Some specialize in temporary or permanent care of patients who require routine assistance, treatment or a controlled environment for whose who suffer from on-going psychological disorders. Low-risk patients can undergo outpatient therapy. Patients can be admitted on a voluntary basis, but in the case of danger to themselves or others, patients will be involuntarily admitted.

Juvenile Wards

These wards are a part of a psychiatric hospital that is sectioned off for children and adolescents suffering from a mental disorder. Thereis also a number of institutions that only specialize in treating juveniles, especially when dealing with eating disorders, self-harm, or drug abuse. Adolescent units allow patients to take a break from their lives and be taken care of and treated by trained staff. The stay can be for a few days, or could be a few months, depending on the problems the patient is suffering from. Each patient will talk to a psychiatrist and may be given medication.

Long-Term

Long-term hospitals provide stabilization and rehabilitation for patients suffering from a variety of difficulties, such as mental disorders, depression, eating disorders, drug abuse, etc. They aim to help patients reintegrate into society once medication has stabilized the condition,within two or three years. Often if a patient has still not reached their goal within that time, they will be referred to another type of hospital in order to retain this role. However, the majority of long-term hospitals are being replaced with smaller secure units, some of which are within other types of psychiatric hospitals.

Halfway Houses

A halfway house is a community based institution for mental patients or substance abusers, who no longer require the complete facilities of another institution, but who are not yet ready to return to their normal lives. Although many lack sufficient funding they are deemed to be one of the most important parts of the mental health system. Patients are provided with assisted living for an extended period of time, and often aided in the transition of self-sufficiency.

Secure Units

Secure units are hospitals run by the Nation Health Service. Patients will be assessed by psychiatrists and will be provided with treatment and accommodation in a safe environment away from the public.

There are three main categories that the hospital facilities are divided into. They are referred to as High, Medium and Low Secure. Low Secure units are often referred to as Local Secure. This is because the patients mostly referred there are sent by local criminal courts for psychiatric assessment before sentencing.

Their aim is to rehabilitate patients and integrate them back into society through providing individual treatment. Overcoming the patient's problem areas and identifying their needs with the care teams. They will learn to develop trusting and genuine therapeutic relationships within a safe and contained environment. They will learn to overcome challenges, develop self-confidence and self-esteem, recognise individual strengths and abilities. They will learn to be independent for recovery to continue on the outside.

Psychiatric Hospitals

Modern mental hospitals, once known as lunatic asylums have evolved into more organised institutions to help inthe treatment of people suffering from serious mental disorders. Once, in such places, patients were treated with horrible practices. Patients were seen as insane and treatment was based on restraining them and containing them from the 'normal' people on the outside.

Nowadays, patients being committed to mental hospitals will be treated very differently, with a whole different approach. Some patients are admitted on a voluntary basis, knowing and admitting that they need help. Others will be involuntary admmitted, as an individual may pose a significant danger to others, or themselves.

There is a variety of types of mental hospitals. Depending on the severity of a patient's mental illness and problems. Different institutes specialize in a range of support for patients. Some deal with only short-term care, others a more permanent fixture.

Suffering from any form of psychological disorder patients will require help with dealing with their problems within a controlled environment. The key goal of mental hospitals is to help a patient fully recover, or to help equipped them with the skills of handling their disorder better on the outside. Through the use of treatment, involving a combination of psychiatric drugs and psychotherapy.

Crisis Stabilization Unit

A patient will be committed here in the event of acting violent, suicidal, or any other critical behaviour. In a lot of cases, patients do not show any visible signs of injury or illness and are often just seeking attention.

This is basically an emergency room for psychiatry. Here, patients can receive prompt action, gentle response and effective support from mental health professionals within a respectful environment.

Emergency psychiatry is usually only a short-term basis, however, in the event of needing more care, a long-termstay is provided. Mental health professionals will access and evaluate each patient to determine the most appropriate level of care for that individual. If the patient has been involuntary committed and is unable to consent they will need to require a commitment order.

The goal of this type of institute, with the use of medication and psychiatric consultation when necessary, is to help work with patients to design plans of action to prevent future crises. Professionals will supply help on education on nutrition, coping skills, signs and symptoms of relapse, relapse prevention and medication management and education. They will encourage family members of the patient to be involved in the process.

Open Units

Open units are focused on making life for patients as normal and bearable as possible. Patients will continue treatment to the point where they can be discharged. Some open units are left unlocked, but it depends on the type of patients that are admitted. The majority of the time, patients are not allowed to hold their own medications in their rooms because of impulsive overdose risks.

Medium-Term

Psychiatric hospitals of this type may specialize in short-term care. Most institutions provide care which lasts several weeks, this is because most psychiatric drugs take several weeks to take effect. The main purpose simply being to monitor patients for the first few weeks to make sure the treatment is effective. Some specialize in temporary or permanent care of patients who require routine assistance, treatment or a controlled environment for whose who suffer from on-going psychological disorders. Low-risk patients can undergo outpatient therapy. Patients can be admitted on a voluntary basis, but in the case of danger to themselves or others, patients will be involuntarily admitted.

Juvenile Wards

These wards are a part of a psychiatric hospital that is sectioned off for children and adolescents suffering from a mental disorder. Thereis also a number of institutions that only specialize in treating juveniles, especially when dealing with eating disorders, self-harm, or drug abuse. Adolescent units allow patients to take a break from their lives and be taken care of and treated by trained staff. The stay can be for a few days, or could be a few months, depending on the problems the patient is suffering from. Each patient will talk to a psychiatrist and may be given medication.

Long-Term

Long-term hospitals provide stabilization and rehabilitation for patients suffering from a variety of difficulties, such as mental disorders, depression, eating disorders, drug abuse, etc. They aim to help patients reintegrate into society once medication has stabilized the condition,within two or three years. Often if a patient has still not reached their goal within that time, they will be referred to another type of hospital in order to retain this role. However, the majority of long-term hospitals are being replaced with smaller secure units, some of which are within other types of psychiatric hospitals.

Halfway Houses

A halfway house is a community based institution for mental patients or substance abusers, who no longer require the complete facilities of another institution, but who are not yet ready to return to their normal lives. Although many lack sufficient funding they are deemed to be one of the most important parts of the mental health system. Patients are provided with assisted living for an extended period of time, and often aided in the transition of self-sufficiency.

Secure Units

Secure units are hospitals run by the Nation Health Service. Patients will be assessed by psychiatrists and will be provided with treatment and accommodation in a safe environment away from the public.

There are three main categories that the hospital facilities are divided into. They are referred to as High, Medium and Low Secure. Low Secure units are often referred to as Local Secure. This is because the patients mostly referred there are sent by local criminal courts for psychiatric assessment before sentencing.

Their aim is to rehabilitate patients and integrate them back into society through providing individual treatment. Overcoming the patient's problem areas and identifying their needs with the care teams. They will learn to develop trusting and genuine therapeutic relationships within a safe and contained environment. They will learn to overcome challenges, develop self-confidence and self-esteem, recognise individual strengths and abilities. They will learn to be independent for recovery to continue on the outside.

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