“Transfer is not treatment” – SAM responds to HSSIB mental health crisis report (17 September)

Commenting today (17 September) on the HSSIB’s report Mental health crisis care: care of patients in Emergency Departments Dr Vicky Price, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “People experiencing a mental health crisis deserve timely, specialist care in an environment that is safe, appropriate and therapeutic. Too often, that is not what they receive.

“Emergency departments are often not the right environment for people experiencing a mental health crisis, but simply transferring someone into an acute medical unit is not the answer either. 

“Transfer is not treatment. Patients need timely access to the specialist mental health care and support that will actually address their needs.

“Acute medicine will always have an important role where patients need urgent medical assessment or treatment alongside their mental health needs. 

“But we regularly care for patients whose primary need is specialist mental health support and who can remain in an acute hospital because an appropriate mental health bed, specialist service or community provision is not available.

“That is distressing for patients and their families, places significant pressure on staff, and reduces the capacity of acute medical services to care for other seriously unwell patients.

“Moving patients between parts of the hospital is not a substitute for providing the right mental health care in the right setting.”