To be shocked at this episode of hospital

[User4544]

A lady who had attempted to take her own life was waiting a number of days for a mental health bed. There were none available either privately or in other nhs trusts. Is this common place for there to literally be no beds?

Yes unfortunately. So many mental health beds were closed, there is nowhere near enough.

Mental health provision is appalling.

Yes, I've got a friend who works in the mental health service and she was saying only last week that all her Trust's beds are full, ditto neighbouring Trusts and the private facilities too. They can't even borrow some space in the general hospital as they're in the same boat. It's shockingly under funded and have multiple vacancies they can't fill.

Yes, it is commonplace. Also people having to admitted 100’s of miles from home if thats the only bed and they need to be detained.
Its extremely stressful for both patients and the staff trying to keep people safe, all down to appalling underfunding.

Yes, it does happen. Not a single bed in the whole country.

It happens all the time. No beds. Units won't take from acute hospitals because they say they can't meet patient needs (although how a medical or surgical ward is supposed to do that is a mystery). The only bed is in Southampton and the patient is in Newcastle. Etc, etc. Patients wait hours and hours in emergency departments for review and days and weeks for beds. And don't get me started on cahms.....

Sadly yes. Someone very dear to me was in full crisis and doctors decided to get them sectioned and it took days before a bed became available and this ended up being over an hour drive away from home/family/friends so harder to visit. At one point they discussed sending them over 6hrs drive away if a bed didn’t open up soon…

What happens then if people need admission but no bed?

I've been told that the best thing you can do in a mental health crisis is to call 999 for an ambulance. Far more likely to get a bed that way than if you go via gp etc.

Yes, when my DM was sectioned, we had to keep her at home for a few hours while they found a bed. In the end they had to rejig the ward to make a men's area a women's area and open a room that had been closed for bathroom maintenance. It was the only bed within 50 miles.

When DD1 was in hospital with an Eating Disorder, they had children waiting weeks for beds in units. The private hospitals don't have any beds because the NHS has hired them all, and it's still not enough.

Quite common.

There's been stories of people kept in police cells because there are no beds.

Mental health provision in the country is absolutely woeful. Just this week I've been told I'm too well for any treatment, even though they know I'm unwell. Then when you end up in A&E because things have got so bad they ask why you didn't ask for help sooner.

I was in A&E about 2 weeks ago with my sick toddler.

I heard a repeated argument between a doctor and psych over the phone. A 16yo had attempted suicide and the psych was refusing to come down to assess and was trying to get the doctor to discharge them.

Mental health services are a fucking shambles.

If there's no bed then people have to wait - at home, with the police, in a medical bed. I don't think the general public have any idea how much of the medical hospital bed base is used for mental health. You just wouldn't believe how many admissions relate to self harm.

Yes. My cousin has been sectioned twice. The first time he got a bed 50 miles away from home, the second time it was 200 miles away.

Yes it is common.

Sibling was taken to ambulance following an overdose. After a night in getting treatment to stop liver failure they were discharged and told there would be a follow up & support services.
Nope.
Within weeks they were actively suicidal again.
Several desperate phone calls to the crisis team one day to try and get them assessed to be admitted somewhere but couldn’t speak to anyone.
The crisis team finally called returned our call at the end of the day & they simply said no one there to assess now, call again tomorrow.
Appalling.

That’s what “care in the community” was all about. A very failed policy and it’s only getting worse. Lockdown has been horrendous for MH.

Very, very common problem because there simply aren’t the resources available

MH provision has always been poor in comparison. Add closures and a pandemic (with the widespread associated MH problems that it brought with it) and you’ve got an absolute fucking mess on your hands

Acute care is in enough of a mess....there isn’t enough money in the world that would tempt me to work in MH. It’s utterly soul destroying

So common that it’s normal/standard procedure

You have to be on the extreme

An Extreme case* to be admitted immediately

I was sent home after my suicide attempts.... did she see the Chrisis

@Talkwhilstyouwalk

I've been told that the best thing you can do in a mental health crisis is to call 999 for an ambulance. Far more likely to get a bed that way than if you go via gp etc.

No you go to accident and emergency. You do not call an ambulance, it’s for emergency people, like those in car crashes

I work on a paediatric surgical ward. Trying to get inpatient beds for Mental health patients is a nightmare. We've even had children who are sectioned still on the ward. We dread CAMHS admissions because we just can't meet their needs.

@Northernlurker

It happens all the time. No beds. Units won't take from acute hospitals because they say they can't meet patient needs (although how a medical or surgical ward is supposed to do that is a mystery). The only bed is in Southampton and the patient is in Newcastle. Etc, etc. Patients wait hours and hours in emergency departments for review and days and weeks for beds. And don't get me started on cahms.....

A couple of years ago a client of mine had to be admitted. The nearest available bed was in Glasgow.

The client was on the Sussex coast.

Mental health services in the UK are in the most appalling state.