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The NHS is to open a network of mental health accident and emergency units across England in an attempt to ease the pressure on overcrowded hospital A&Es and emergency services.
Patients feeling suicidal or experiencing symptoms such as psychosis or mania will be able to walk in or be referred by GPs and the police to the departments.
The units will be staffed by specialist doctors and nurses providing around-the-clock support.
Ten NHS trusts have opened dedicated units for mental health emergencies, the Times reported, and the scheme is expected to be expanded nationally as part of the 10-year NHS plan being published this summer by Labour.
Sir James Mackey, the chief executive of NHS England, told the Times: “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.
“As well as relieving pressure on our busy A&Es, mental health crisis assessment centres can speed up access to appropriate care, offering people the help they need much sooner, so they can stay out of hospital.”
Last week, the Guardian reported that thousands of people with a mental health crisis are enduring waits of up to three days in A&E before they get a bed.
The findings were included in research by the Royal College of Nursing.
Based on freedom of information requests to NHS trusts in England and evidence from senior nurses, the research found that at least 5,260 people a year in a mental health crisis wait more than 12 hours for a bed after a decision has been made to admit them – up from barely 1,000 in 2019.
A senior nurse in the south-west of England said: “Lots of people will just come and wait and be patient. But as you can imagine, some of them are in severe crisis. They want to leave. They want to self-harm. They are massively distressed and struggling.”
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
