ABSTRACT
Care of the minority of mental illness sufferers who are unable to cope without help on a 24-hour basis has become an increasingly high profile issue during the last decade. In the press it has predominantly revolved around the need to contain people with disturbing behaviour. In the caring professions the debate has extended to the quality of life in different care settings (Wolfson, 1992). Central to this whole theme has been the loss of the old style ‘asylum’ care with the closure of the large mental hospitals.
