4. Needs and the deployment of services

An assessment of need for services on the census day, and whether any identified need was being met, was made on the basis of all the information collected from patients, staff, relatives and case-records. Staff judgements that there was unmet need were given considerable weight, since they were usually made when the need was particularly serious or long-lasting. However, in several instances the team rated unmet need as present when staff had not mentioned it. Occasionally, it was necessary to reconcile conflicting information from different sources, as when a relative gave details of problems not known to staff.