Disappointed in mental healthy service

my SIL is training to be a nurse in mental health, and admits the services are seriously underfunded. Mental health issues are responsible for 30% of the disease burden in the UK (much higher again here in N.I.), but get only something like 8% of the budget. Even if someone told their doctor they'd planned to kill themselves the next day, an "urgent" referral would mean a two week wait to be seen. A routine referral can be much longer, although timescales obviously depends on where you live.

In an emergency you may be able to take your partner to a&e to be seen. My OH did this for a friend once, although it was a long wait in a&e in a distressing environment, but he did get the help he needed.

I work in mental health and get you are confused and disappointed.
Mental health services are two tiered - changes were made nationally in 2006 - this was to eg improve access & reduce stigma.

For common and routine mental health difficulties - the mental health service is in primary care.

Secondary mental health services are for the most serious and severe mental illness - generally speaking in the main this is for people who are experiencing psychosis. Secondary mental health has the acute hospital beds and crisis teams - when the risks of harm ( injury and death) are very high to self and others, then these services will become involved. Once the risks lessen, you maybe referred back to primary care services.

GP's are generally the first point of call - there is no A&E in mental health services. Your GP is able to prescribe medications for mental health difficulties. On occasions the GP may seek the advice of a psychiatrist for primary care level of difficulty - for example may wish to know if diagnosed correctly and get advice on medications that might help.

Psychology and IAPT. IAPT is - Improving Access to Psychotherapy. The primary care mental health in the main is psychology with your GP. To improve people's access to psychology - people are assessed as having needs that fit onto - five steps. Steps 1-3 are provided in primary mental health with your GP. Dependent on how your CCG commissions your services, you may also have step four in your primary care mental health service.

Secondary care CMHT take the most complex mental health presentations. Therefore step 5 psychology (generally speaking this means has psychological difficulties that will take around 2 years in therapy). Some of this will be group therapies and not all will require a 1:1 intervention with a psychologist eg Managing emotional responses.

CPN's, OT, social workers, carer support services, etc are in secondary mental health services, and generally unavailable to people who are in primary care mental health services.

tomtontom wrote: »

Please don't do this - it is dangerously bad advice. Inpatient units are run on the minimum number of staff possible, so taking them away from their work means leaving others at risk. They do not have the manpower nor the physical facilities to accommodate walk ins.

This wasn't an inpatient unit, merely a sort of walk in centre, attached to another, part of the hospital. At no time were the inpatient units or staff compromised in terms of numbers, as the inpatient units are all locked and staffed on very strict numbers (2 for rehab unit, up to 8 staff for ICU depending on obs and 1-2-1s) But what do I know, I only worked there for 10 years helping and sorting peoples problems out :rotfl:

Of course, this is just the hospital I worked at. Every one will be different and have slightly different ways of working, I was merely saying my option might be a possibility. I appreciate not all hospitals will have an out of hours centre you can just walk into and talk to someone if you are struggling, I guess where I worked, people were lucky to have this service, and the availability of an on call doctor and crisis team

MIND have helped me a lot, both through a crisis situation and what causes me to get into the crisis situation. Since then its helped keep me going knowing I can go and talk over things within a few days if I feel bad. It also helps to know that I am doing something about it.