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National Study Uncovers Evidence That Patients Are Poorly Served

Vancouver, B.C.- When patients in the British Columbia mental health system are released from a facility in Vancouver, or other places in B.C., they are more often than not likely to be back in the same mental health hospital bed inside of 30 days.

This rate of re admission is higher in British Columbia than anywhere else in Canada, except one other province, Prince Edward Island.

The re admission rate in British Columbia for a 30 day period is high, at 10.2 percent, with only the Prince Edward Island rate of re admission higher at 11.7 percent.

The national rate of mental health re admission for the rest of Canada is lower, around 9.23 percent, and a new study released on Tuesday by the Canada Institute for Health Information reveal that it has not gotten any better over time.

After a year, nearly 28 percent of mental health patients that were inside a mental health treatment facility and then released have to be readmitted.

These elevated figures are disturbing, and nearly 7 percent higher than the national re admission 12-month rate of 22.9 percent, and no one seems to know the reason for the different in British Columbia.

The re admission rates for British Columbia are rather glaring, and they show that perhaps the patients in British Columbia are being released prematurely, without getting the necessary treatment that they require or should have.