Applying to a range of other services, one of the main results is closure of large, long-stay hospitals for people with mental health problems or learning disabilities.
Treatment of mental illness benefits from new drug therapies from the early days of the NHS. In 1949 Dingleton Hospital in the Borders was one of the first in the world to unlock its wards allowing patients access to the wider community.
But institutional life remained the norm for many at that time. Critics in the 1980s said mental health services remained underfunded despite government policy. In recent years, Scotland has pioneered new approaches in promoting mental well being.