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?

This woman had an assessment which meant she had been sectioned so had to wait for a bed.

I have access to bed stats and its not uncommon for their to be less than 5 beds free across the country and not available beds both nhs and private across county and neighbouring counties

Very common to have 20+ across our trust footprint waiting for a bed.
Sectioned patients from the community get priority- however also if someone is in a medical hospital then they are deemed as in a safe place and then get shoved to the bottom of the list.

They discharge you, tell you that someone will get in contact but they never do and then you ring around begging for help again but no help comes... Speaking from experience pretty certain that nobody actually cares if you do succeed in the end because then your no longer bothering them. I've given up.

If my late partner had been admitted he would still be with me. But he wasn't and he's not.

I did my best but I had to sleep and that's when he died.

He had the crisis teams phone number though, so you know, can't say they didn't do anything.

I was pretty shocked talking to my police officer friends as they say much of what they are called to are mental health issues which would have previously been dealt with by social services. The cuts to social services have such a knock on effect.

@ChakaDakotaRegina

Police may not like it but often they are the only people with legal power to act

Yes, I’ve been sectioned twice and both times it took 24 hours to find me a bed.

I'm a mental health nurse. It's incredibly difficult to get an inpatient bed now. Even if someone is assessed as requiring detaining under the MHA you then need to find a bed, often there isn't one. You go on a waiting list and it can takes days, I've even known weeks.
It's a terrible state we are in right now.

I work on a paediatric ward, there are often children waiting weeks on the medical paeds ward (ie around sick babies) for mental health beds, often under section.
I watched the same episode you did, and was shocked by the same thing, but where most people see that and think it took ages. I saw that and was shocked by how fast they found that bed.

I think most people genuinely don’t realise how bad things are in the NHS generally they haven’t needed the service - then when they do they are shocked. Those of us who’ve had regular NHS care have seen things deteriorate rapidly over the last decade - but sadly this is what people vote for and sanction for voting for more of the same

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.

Ok, I see your point and agree with you in some/most circumstances, but it depends on the situation. My dad was manic, completely out of control and his physical health was at risk. There was no way we could have got him to A&E on our own. Also, if someone is suicidal then I would say an ambulance is justified at time's, people won't always get in the car to be helped, more intervention can be needed.

@SinkGirl

I think most people genuinely don’t realise how bad things are in the NHS generally they haven’t needed the service - then when they do they are shocked. Those of us who’ve had regular NHS care have seen things deteriorate rapidly over the last decade - but sadly this is what people vote for and sanction for voting for more of the same

You see it on here all the time, people assuming there's all this support and 'care package', generous benefits, charities offering all sorts and you just need to 'reach out'.

My friend waited 5 days for her bed and that was fast.

I second what SinkGirl has said. Care across the NHS has markedly deteriorated. It is plain to anyone who has needed ongoing care. 15 years ago my experience of mental health care was no waiting times for treatment, and when admitted to a ward, they were not running at capacity. I can’t understand how people vote for a political party that is happy to run our health service into the ground. No one is promised good health.

Yes, it's beyond shocking. And still people vote Tory.

DC2 was really mentally unwell three years ago (roughly).
They were referred as an urgent case to the mental health team local to us.
The mental health team downgraded the referral twice. Our GP kept re-referring.
The upshot was that eventually DC was offered a telephone appointment five months later, which they were incapable of taking.
Luckily, and eventually, DC recovered enough to be able to function (about a year ago), but it was not due to any help they got from mental health services.
The provision is dire, and seems to be almost country-wide.

We were offered a bed when family member was sectioned.... 300 miles away was the nearest! Our local unit is 20 mins drive all full to bursting.

@ChakaDakotaRegina this is true. My partner is a police officer and spends so much of his time dealing with people who need MH help. They're not criminals, just ill. You'd think a typical weekend nightshift would be spent patrolling the town centre dealing with crime when in reality it's spent in hospitals looking after the mentally ill or searching for missing people who are only missing because they have not had the help they desperately need.

@Highlightninga it's not about the police not liking it. It's about the general public being under the impression police are out there fighting crime when in reality they are doing a job that should be done by a mental health team.

He comes home after a night of a looking after a suicidal 17 year old female and asks what the fuck do I know about helping a suicidal person? My heart sinks for both of them. The young woman deserves actual help and the police officers deserve to do the job they are trained for.

Sadly yes. The hospital closest to us has now got a special acute MH “ward” area with 4 rooms and designated RMNs purely because of the appalling lack of psychiatric beds in this country.

My friend was in one of these rooms for 3 days before a bed in an acute psychiatric unit could be found. She was safe but she did not get the specialist treatment and care that she so desperately needed.

I was told that there’s no beds for 200 miles where we live. I dealt with a major crisis with a family member nigh on single handed while trying to work full time and not go under. It was hell. I’m now exhausted. But my family member is still here and doing a lot better.

An enormous part of the issue that people miss is not the sheer number of beds but the pathway out of hospital for those who have been inpatient for significant amounts of time or who are too unwell to just be released (such as those with ongoing delusions). Bed blocking isn’t just an issue for physical health issues. Specialist accommodation or care homes are expensive and assessments take time especially when there is often a bun fight over who should fund it…

Yes this is normal. Not something I wish to discuss but needless to say I discovered that all the beds in our area are full, private or otherwise, even showing up to A&E won’t get you any sort of beds!

I'm a Sister in the Emergency Department and its common for our patients to be with us for a couple of days whilst they wait for an out of area bed. Its very sad and frustrating for everyone. I feel so sorry for the patients especially when they are sent to the other end of the country.

To the poster who put ring an Ambulance and you will get a bed. It really does not work like that. The mental health liaison team/crisis team will see you and discharge you if they think you are not acutely mentally unwell. Arriving in an Ambulance has no influence!

Very common sadly

Alot of people are just sent back home