Early rehospitalization.

The process and outcome of discharge planning were examined at a large provincial psychiatric hospital. Two hundred patients were studied to determine whether or not they received services from the agencies to which they were referred after discharge. In addition, patients who were rehospitalized within three months of discharge were identified in order to determine whether they differed from the rest of the cohort. Eighty-three percent of the patients for whom referrals were made sought help from at least one aftercare service or community agency, suggesting that there is considerably more aftercare in the community than has previously been documented. The implications of these findings for treatment, research and policy planning are discussed.