The Psychiatric Hospitals' responsibilities are to:
- Provide specialized treatment and rehabilitative
services for patients with psychiatric problems that are difficult to
manage and are of medium or long term duration. The instability of their
medical psychiatric condition and the need for highly specialized intervention
and supervision, would be decisive factors in their hospitalization.
Four groups are identified as follows:
- elderly patients suffering from a major mental illness
and who are not appropriate for placement in nursing homes;
- developmentally delayed patients with psychiatric
disorders and severely disruptive/aggressive behavior;
- patients with schizophrenia who are chronically
psychotic, assaultive or suicidal; and
- chronic schizophrenic patients who exhibit behavior,
which makes them vulnerable to exploitation or is unacceptable even
in enlightened communities.
- Serve as specialized forensic centres for long term
"intensive" care, long-term forensic services, and observation and treatment
of cases that present high security risks. (A single forensic inpatient
unit is located at the Restigouche Hospital Center.)
- Serve as a specialized inpatient resource for other
mental health services.
- Serve as a support centre for evaluation, research and
training in the fields of mental health.
- Provide psychiatric telephone consultation or on-site
support services to other agencies, in particular for psychogeriatric
patients or developmentally handicapped.
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