Institutional Care for Patients with Huntington's Chorea

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Abstract
Despite recent advances in the understanding of Huntington's Chorea, treatment remains, at best, symptomatic and many sufferers end their days in institutional care. A recent survey established the prevalence of Huntington's Chorea in South Wales as 7·65 per 100,000. From this figure, 4,000 or more sufferers of this condition are living in the United Kingdom at present of whom 20% are in hospital or other institutional care. Although some studies have looked in passing at the degree of disability of Huntington's Chorea sufferers in hospital and found it to be considerable, staff and relatives often feel that long stay psychiatric wards are inappropriate or unnecessarily restrictive settings for these patients. This study looks at the disability of Huntington's Chorea sufferers in hospital and other institutions in order to determine the suitability of their placement and to see whether their physical and psychological needs are being met.