Despite the development of community care and associated processes of de-institutionalisation, the hospital remains the hub of mental health services in the UK. However, previous quantitative and survey research indicates that quality of care in acute psychiatric (admission) wards has been compromised or is under threat, and points to a bleak experience for people who are admitted. Indicators of this include that there have been increases in admission rates, the proportion of compulsory admissions, and bed occupancy rates. There is also evidence of violence, sexual harassment and substance misuse in this setting, accompanied by rapid staff turnover, low staff morale, and an increasing proportion of 'difficult' patients (especially young men with schizophrenia). This paper reviews the evidence about life on psychiatric wards, focusing on how it is experienced by patients in acute settings. Research conducted in the UK in the 1990s, supports the impression that organisational pressures are having a negative impact on the quality of care. It shows that: nurse-patient (N-P) relationships are perceived to be an important aspect of care, but that N-P contact has declined; and patients are critical of conditions on the ward and view life there as both boring and unsafe. However, very little in-depth ethnographic research has been conducted on acute wards in the UK (and none since the 1970s) leaving us with a 'black box' view of in-patient care in this setting. Studies conducted during earlier 'care paradigms', notably those in the USA by Goffman and Strauss et al., provide useful insights into the patient's experience, but the extent to which these can be conceptually generalised to the present situation is unknown. The paper concludes by outlining questions and priorities for future investigation, focusing on the role of qualitative research.