Care in the Community was a policy of the Margaret Thatcher government in the 1980s. Its professed aim was a more liberal way of helping people with mental health problems, by removing them from impersonal, often Victorian, institutions, and caring for them in their own homes. Also, better psychotropic drugs became available and this meant that patients could be treated at home. It was, of course, also meant to be cheaper. Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC (born 13 October 1925) is a British stateswoman and was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, the only woman as of 2005 to serve in that position. ... Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Mental health, mental hygiene and mental wellness are all terms used to describe the absence of mental illness. ... Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Accession to the Throne, June 20, 1837) gave her name to the historic era. ... A psychoactive drug or psychotropic substance is a chemical that alters brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness, or behaviour. ...

The policy has been beset by problems, not the least of which has been a number of killings by mentally-ill people being cared for in their own homes.

An inquiry was set up, and this led to the National Health Service and Community Care Act of 1990. Patients were to be individually assessed, and assigned a specific care worker; if they presented a risk they were to be placed on a Supervision Register. But there have been further problems with patients "slipping through the net" and ending up homeless on the street. There have also been arguments between Health and Social Services departments on who should pay. 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...