In 1975, my colleague, mentor and friend Dave Jolley, who has died aged 79, established one of the first dedicated old age psychiatry services in the UK – in south Manchester.
The service, under Dave’s leadership at Withington hospital, made no assumption of a slippery slope of mental decline in old age – mental health disorders were seen as treatable and reversible until proved otherwise – and, even then, ameliorative support was offered.
