ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the range and quality of institutional provisions for the mentally subnormal; for example, the physical setting of hospitals, the kinds of patient to be found in them, the staff who care for the patients, the life of the community and its contact with the outside world. Changes are taking place both in the administrative structure of the hospitals and in treatment ideology. The chapter is concerned with certain broad aspects of the organizational structure of these institutions. It describes the stated objectives of policy as seen by those inside the organization, as well as by the policy makers outside. The chapter examines the extent to which treatment generally accorded with these objectives. For the most part nurses tend to conceptualize their role in terms of what they aim to achieve for the particular group of patients in their care.
