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Objectives: Poor social conditions are strong determinants of poor health but positive health and healthcare changes caused by social interventions are difficult to demonstrate. In 2006, in Trieste (Italy), a social intervention known as 'Habitat Microaree' (HM) project was implemented in eight deprived neighbourhoods. In 2016, an observational study was launched to assess the impact of the HM project on healthcare., Design: Retrospective cohort study., Setting: The eight geographically defined neighbourhoods of Trieste involved in the 2006 HM project, accounting for a total of 11 380 residents., Participants: Participants were all residents in the intervention areas. By means of a propensity score based on deprivation index, age, sex, Charlson index and drug utilisation, a non-participating, comparison group was defined., Intervention: The community-based intervention consisted of facilitating access to social services and outpatient healthcare facilities, coordinating intersectoral public services and specifically planning hospital discharge. These services were not provided in other areas of the city., Outcome Measures: Hospital admissions and emergency department access., Results: We followed 16 256 subjects between 2008 and 2015. Living in microareas was associated with an HR for first hospital admission, for all causes, of 0.95 (95% CI 0.91 to 0.99); while the HR for urgent admissions in females was 0.92 (95% CI 0.85 to 1.00). The HR for psychiatric disorders, in females, was 0.39 (95%CI 0.18 to 0.82); in particular, the HR for psychosis was 0.15 (95% CI 0.05 to 0.51). The HR for acute respiratory diseases in females was 0.44 (95% CI 0.21 to 0.95). In males, the HR for genitourinary diseases and heart diseases were 0.65 (95% CI 0.42 to 1.01) and 0.72 (95% CI 0.54 to 0.97), respectively. Concerning urgent multiple admissions, the OR for fractures in females was 0.75 (95% CI 0.58 to 0.97)., Conclusion: In the study period, the effects on healthcare appear evident, especially in females., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

This paper describes the closing of the mental hospital in Trieste and the establishing of a comprehensive community mental health service, over a period of 13 years from 1971. In 1971 the hospital had 1058 patients. By 1975 there were 656 patients, 403 of whom were guests, in effect ordinary citizens who had nowhere else to live. The paper describes this dramatic and innovative transformation, the rearrangement of wards, the abolition of shock therapies, the establishment of many flats and group homes, the starting of a cleaning cooperative employing ex-patients to do the work they previously did as "ergotherapy", the first mass exodus of the patients into the city. The paper goes on to describe the opening of 7 mental health centres between 1975 and 1977 and the present existing network of services. At this time the hospital buildings were converted into a variety of uses for the benefit of the local people. It describes in greater detail the philosophy and practice of one of these centres at Barcola and how the dialectical relationship between staff and client works to create a flexible and responsive service. It ends by repeating the assertion that the closure of the mental hospital is a first necessary step towards an improved mental health service for everyone.