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In an applauded response to Britain’s growing number of citizens experiencing a mental health crisis, the country’s National Health Service (NHS) is rolling out a network of “calm and welcoming” mental health casualty centers, Daily Mail reports.
Dedicated Oases of Calm
These specialist mental health emergency room units will offer tranquil hubs rather than the noisy chaos of typical trauma centres. Open 24/7, and designed to help individuals going through a mental health crisis, people in need will be able to walk in, or come with a referral from their family doctor or the police.
Doctors and nurses at these new centres will support both patients who are suicidal, or those experiencing symptoms such as mania or psychosis. According to the Independent, visitors will be seen within ten minutes of arriving.
Mental health nurse Toti Freysson, who manages West London’s Ladbroke Grove center, puts it like this: “Normally in A&E they would have to wait for hours, surrounded by the noise and the chaos. Most of the people we see have suicidal thoughts. Here, they can come in and sit with their families. We are able to intervene early and link them up with treatment in the community. It means we can get them home much sooner.”
The service offered includes a “full and holistic assessment” of a patient’s mental health needs in an effort to address the root cause of their crisis. Selena Cox, the deputy head of urgent care at this unit, details how patients are each given a plan of action. This may involve connecting them to local charities to address homelessness, debt or addiction issues, or arranging follow-up home visits.
The Ladbroke Grove center has two emotional support dogs, miniature pinschers called Maxwell and Mitsi, as The Sun shares, that can cuddle up to patients. It also offers fresh fruit, biscuits and hot beverages to all visitors.
So far, dedicated mental health A&Es have already been launched by ten NHS trusts, some on sites alongside existing casualty units.
Meeting a Pressing Need
These mental health centres have been conceived to upgrade the flawed urgent care experience of mental health patients. They are intended to replace a dated system which saw some 250,000 people visit A&E in 2024 in the UK as the result of a mental health crisis, with around 25 percent of them experiencing a wait time of 12 hours or more as the Daily Mail details. This scenario is part of a so-called “corridor care” crisis at major hospitals.
The Guardian reveals that thousands of people in a mental health crisis are enduring delays of up to three days in casualty before they are given a bed, with tortuous conditions for those in a severely distressed condition. What’s more, medical teams are often so busy caring for patients with physical emergencies that security guards can end up stepping in to take care of mental health patients.
Jim Mackey, the chief executive of the NHS, tells The Times the reasoning behind the new centers: “Crowded A&Es are not designed to treat people in mental health crisis… we need to do better, which is why we are pioneering a new model of care where patients get the right support in the right setting.”
Elaborating, Mackey outlines that as well as relieving pressure on over-burdened emergency room facilities, these new centers can offer people the help they need much sooner, so they can stay out of hospital.
These mental health emergency rooms come at a great time for London, as in 2024, the Met Police announced it would stop attending mental health-linked emergency calls unless a threat to life is deemed to be present.
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