A survey of mentally subnormal patients with orthopaedic abnormalities at Muckamore Abbey Hospital.

IN 1967 it was decided that an orthopaedic surgeon should pay regular visits to Muckamore Abbey. It was soon realised that instead of seeing selected cases it would be more productive to carry out a survey of all the patients. This would mean that every patient would be examined at least once by an orthopaedic surgeon. It so happens that at Muckamore Abbey the patients with orthopaedic problems tend to be concentrated in some of the villas, thus by the time the first 300 patients had been seen, the majority of those with orthopaedic abnormalities had been found. By the time that 400 patients had been examined, a considerable number of orthopaedic problems had accumulated and those patients that had undergone surgery were returning for follow-up. The survey was stopped after seeing 450 patients, and this communication describes the main findings.