Day-Care Centers in Lombardy

The census system in the region of Lombardy provides no direct information on day-care centers (DCs) since the regional law of 31 December 1984 No. 67 does not distinguish them as autonomous structures, but assigns their therapeutic and rehabilitative functions to the OPUs as a whole, particularly to some of their subdivisions, primarily the psychosocial center (PSC). Analytic information on these facilities will be available after 1995 once a system for monitoring rehabilitative activities has begun to function. The DCs came into being as part of experimental initiatives financed through allocated budgets and specific projects, and were developed as deemed fitting and desirable by their operators, who, after noting the need for them, attempted to meet that need in accordance with local resources and local orientations. Thus, the initiative for the Lombardy Region has been given permission to develop psychiatric day care on the basis of many different organizational models. Information on the DCs in Lombardy gathered by means of the "activity sheets" currently used in psychiatric facilities enables us to sketch a general picture of the activities available to a patient over the course of a day, but only on a quantitative scale. The data accumulated measure the volume of services that may, in general terms, be labeled rehabilitative so long as the physical premises allow for realization of individual activities: PSCs; non