The viewpoint of the elderly psychiatric patient

There is now an increasing emphasis on the views of the consumers of health care, but little is known of psychiatric patients' opinions on their care and treatment. This may be due to an assumption that their reports are unreliable. Much of the research in this area has been carried out in the USA, although there have been reports from the UK and elsewhere (Freeman & Kendall, Hansson et al , 1985; Lazare et al , 1975; McIntyre et al , 1989; Weinstein, 1981).