Caring for mentally disabled people in Scotland

Scotland's mental health agencies face a major challenge with the appearance of Caring for People. The arrival of the community care White Paper has coincided with the appearance of renewed concern over hospital inpatient provision and over the perceived lack of progress in the development of community care. This article examines some of the differences which arise from the construction of community care policy in Scotland and some of the evidence available for assessing the present state of care in the community for the younger mentally disabled. It is found that some 630,000 adults under the age of 65 (or 19% of all adults in this age group) are suffering from some form of mental disability, some 22% of whom are in severe need of care. 93% of this group are located in the community. Problems for carers are created by the presence of significant shortfalls in resources and by the balance of care which exists in Scotland.