Scior, Katrina

Background: Little is known about the experiences of individuals with intellectual disabilities and additional mental health problems who are admitted for inpatient psychiatric care. In the UK such care is delivered in both generic psychiatric and specialised treatment settings.

Aims: The present study explored service users' and carers' views on in-patient psychiatric treatment received across these two settings.

Background  Government guidelines promote the use of mainstream mental health services for people with intellectual disabilities whenever possible. However, little is known about the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities who use such services.

Materials and Methods  Face-to-face interviews with service users, carers and community nurses were completed and analysed on a case by case basis using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The results were followed up in focus groups with service providers.

There has been much debate about the most appropriate site for in‐patient psychiatric care for people with learning disabilities. The evidence base for service delivery for this group is very scant. Even less is known about the experiences of service users and their carers, as their voices have been largely absent from this debate among service providers and policy makers. This article summarises results from a study into the experiences of adults with learning disabilities who were admitted for in‐patient psychiatric care. Their carers' views were also investigated.