Social and environmental factors play a significant part. Thus a patient may at too early a stage return to the faulty environment which precipitated the breakdown in health and brought him to hospital. If timely action could be taken to counter the effect of such factors, the result would be great saving in human suffering and in the cost of the Health Service.
This book describes studies made in Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen to find out how patients fared after leaving hospital, the factors chiefly affecting their subsequent progress, and what could be done to help them.
Among the points emerging are the need for more effective links between hospital and family doctor, for more attention at an early stage in recovery to potential employment difficulties and for skilled vocational guidance to those patients who seem particularly vulnerable to social and environmental factors.