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Transferring people with mental illness from emergency department to acute mental health wards: survey of contemporary practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Charles Antwi ,
Adrian Flynn ,
Paul Chrichard ,
Amanda Haddock ,
Claire Johnson ,
Jo Hammond  and
Peter Aitken
Charles Antwi
Affiliation:
Learning Disability Psychiatry, Exeter
Adrian Flynn
Affiliation:
Cornwall Drug and Alcohol Service, Redruth, email: adeflynn@yahoo.com
Paul Chrichard
Affiliation:
Wonford House Hospital, Exeter
Amanda Haddock
Affiliation:
Wonford House Hospital, Exeter
Claire Johnson
Affiliation:
Wonford House Hospital, Exeter
Jo Hammond
Affiliation:
Wonford House Hospital, Exeter
Peter Aitken
Affiliation:
Wonford House Hospital, Exeter
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Abstract

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Aims and Method

A substantial minority of patients attending emergency departments do so with a primary mental health problem. A number will require admission to an acute psychiatric unit. There is little guidance about the best practice in terms of risk assessment and escorting of these patients. We conducted a telephone questionnaire survey of acute trusts, to identify current policies for the transfer of patients with mental illness to acute psychiatric units.

Results

Eighty-two trusts were contacted. We could not verify the presence of any current policies. There was considerable variation in the assessment and management of risk in these clinical circumstances.

Clinical Implications

Current local service structure and transfer distance may influence the way in which risk is assessed. However, there is a need for trusts to ensure that basic standards of risk assessment are maintained for the transfer of these high-risk patients. We recommend that all emergency departments should have such policies and that liaison psychiatry is well placed to aid their development.

Type
Original papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 30 , Issue 12 , December 2006 , pp. 447 - 449
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2006

References

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