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the mere fact that the case is "chronic i.e., that it offers no prospect of speedy
recovery, if at all, is not in itself sufficient to indicate that the case is one for the
Metropolitan Asylums Board; the case to be eligible for one of the Board's mental
hospitals must also be "harmless" to himself and others, in other words, the kind
of case which might lawfully be detained in a workhouse, the Board's accommodation
being, in effect, centralised workhouse accommodation. Even cases of chronic
senile dementia can be, and often are, so troublesome that care in a County mental
hospital is fully warranted. And it would seem that the provision made under the
Mental Deficiency Act is, by now, having some effect in withdrawing from the
operation of the Lunacy Acts cases of congenital deficiency, for whom before 1913
a mental hospital (probably one of the Board's hospitals) furnished the only
possible refuge if institutional care, outside a workhouse, was needed.
20. During 1926, 22 male and 11 female patients of a kind eligible for detention
in the Metropolitan Asylums Board's mental hospitals were transferred from London
County mental hospitals to the Board's care. Of those patients, two females were
returned during the year, having proved, after transfer, to be unsuitable for the
Board's institutions. In addition to these retransfers the London County mental
hospitals received by transfer from the Board's institutions, 11 male and 33 female
patients.
Applications for admission.
21. The applications for beds for cases of lunacy received from the relieving
officers in the County of London and dealt with during each month of the period
1916-1927 are shown in table 7 below. This table is interesting because it
gives some indication whether there is any actual increase in the incidence of
mental unsoundness in the county. The figures give the total applications made
each month, of which a certain number (between 5 and 6 per cent.) is usually
withdrawn for one reason or another. The figures therefore do not represent the
total number of cases certified. It will be noted that the applications exceeded
the previous year's figures by 16. Last year there was an increase of 143 over the
year previous.
Applications
for beds.

* Highest in each year. †Lowest in each year.
Readmissions.
22. The total number of patients who were readmitted to the London County
mental hospitals during the year ended 31st March, 1927, after having previously
been discharged "recovered" from one or other of the London County mental
hospitals was 318. Of this number 83 were readmitted within twelve months of
the date of their discharge.
Former
patients
readmitted,
after being
discharged
"recovered."