Supervised community treatment: 2-year follow-up study in Suffolk

Aims and method To describe the use of community treatment orders (CTOs) and outcomes for patients placed under CTOs within the first 8 months of use in Suffolk. We performed retrospective and prospective examination of health records to collect sociodemographic and clinical measurements with a specific data-collection tool. Results All of the patients studied had a major psychotic mental illness. A significant proportion of the patients had a history of alcohol or substance misuse and contact with judicial services. Implementation of a CTO was associated with an increase in engagement, a decrease in the number of admissions, and increased time spent outside hospital. Clinical implications This small localised study indicates that supervised community treatment can have benefits for some patients. The challenge now is to examine the practice of supervised community treatment and to receive meaningful feedback from people who are subject to such treatment.