Mental health beds shouldn’t be so hard to find

Mersey Care's Clock View development, which helps boost local mental health provision
Mersey Care’s Clock View development, which helps boost local mental health provision

About 500 mentally ill people travel more than 30 miles for an inpatient bed every month, such is the scarcity of local provision.

My piece in the Guardian today reflects longstanding concerns most recently outlined in a report from the independent commission into adult acute mental healthcare, supported by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and led by ex-NHS chief executive Nigel Crisp. The report demands include a deadline of October 2017 to stop the practice of sending severely ill patients miles from home.

Some areas are blazing a trail, however, when it comes to boosting local acute beds. Existing examples of good practice include Mersey Care NHS trust’s £25m purpose-built, short-stay mental health inpatient unit, Clock View. Then there’s Tile House supported living project in King’s Cross, London, which reduces hospital admissions for people with serious mental health conditions, aiming to move them into independent housing and work.

For more, read the piece the full Guardian piece here

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