"Seeking help for my son in mental health crisis"

I attended A & E early Thursday morning with my son who was experiencing a mental health crisis. All staff we encountered were kind, respectful and professional. The triage nurse was patient in obtaining a complex history from a distressed person and explained clearly what would happen next.

We had to wait only a short time for the mental health liaison nurse who was reassuring, several times succeeded in calming my son who was very distressed, and again was very patient in obtaining his complex history. She was very thorough and I felt that she noted in detail the many factors which we felt were relevant. She assessed that he was in need of an admission to a place of safety and further psychiatric assessment, sought his opinion and agreement on this, and secured him a place in the psychiatric clinical decision unit at Peter Hodgkinson Centre, Lincoln County.

While she was arranging this she had obviously ensured that my son and I were supported, a HCSW made us a cup of tea and sat and engaged empathetically with me when I was very upset. We were both offered food.

There was a level of risk about me transporting my son to the unit in my car, and my request for the mental health liaison nurse to get an appropriate sedative prescribed to reduce this risk was considered appropriate and actioned promptly, the assessment of risk around the car journey was a shared process. I don't know exactly but would estimate the time from arrival at A& E Boston to my son's admission to the PCDU at Lincoln was about 5 hours, maybe less.

I think we received an excellent service and my thanks to everyone who helped us (please pass this on to the individuals concerned).