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Attending A&E due to mental health crisis

Posted By nirvanono

"Attending A&E due to mental health crisis"

About: Crisis Mental Health / Liaison psychiatry Northern General Hospital / Accident and emergency

(as the patient),

When I arrived at A&E, at 2pm, I was triaged promptly and referred to the liaison psychiatry team. I was seen by multiple nurses and a doctor during my wait, whilst being told twice that I was next on the list to be seen by the mental health team. I became very distressed whilst waiting for the team and at 8pm I decided to leave as I was exhausted and wanted to be in a comfortable environment. I felt very angry and upset that I waited 6 hours and was not seen by a member of the mental health team.

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Responses

Response from Julie Sheldon, Head of Nursing Crisis Network and Adult Community Teams, SHSC 3 years ago
Julie Sheldon
Head of Nursing Crisis Network and Adult Community Teams,
SHSC

Submitted on 08/12/2020 at 17:47
Published on Care Opinion at 17:47

Hello there

I am Julie, the mental health liaison team manager.

I am very sorry to hear that you experienced such a long wait for the mental health liaison team service when you were in crisis. It must have been very frustrating and disappointing. I would be more than happy to look into this for you if you wish to speak to me in person and for me to understand your experience and respond on a more personal level to the reasons which may have contributed to the wait and for us to learn as a team what may have been able to be done differently.

We do have a triage system in place which should mean that people are seen for an initial review face to face within an hour. I am sorry that this did not happen. sometimes there are long waits for the full assessment by mental health liaison due to the volume of referrals and the number of staff on duty to respond. If you would like the opportunity to discuss your experience with me I would be happy to make time to do so. Please call the Sheffield Health and Social Care switchboard number 01142716310 and ask for me by name or ask for the mental health liaison team and that admin staff can take a message if I am not available.

Thank you for taking the time to post your experience on the care opinion site, I again apologise that your experience was not positive with mental health services on this occasion and hope that you feel able to speak further about this.

Julie Sheldon

Liaison Psychiatry Team Manager

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Response from Deborah Hopkinson, Patient Experience Co-ordinator, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3 years ago
Deborah Hopkinson
Patient Experience Co-ordinator,
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 14/12/2020 at 09:26
Published on Care Opinion at 09:26

We were sorry to hear of your experience when you attended our Accident and Emergency department seeking help. I have noted that our colleague, Julie Sheldon, Liaison Psychiatry Team Manager, has responded to you and I hope that Julie has now been able to speak to you personally in order to resolve matters to your satisfaction.

Kind regards.

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Response from Julie Sheldon, Head of Nursing Crisis Network and Adult Community Teams, SHSC 3 years ago
Julie Sheldon
Head of Nursing Crisis Network and Adult Community Teams,
SHSC

Submitted on 15/01/2021 at 11:49
Published on Care Opinion at 14:22

Nirvanono got in touch and we had a long chat for me to understand what went wrong with their experience and to action and learn from it. The author helped me to appreciate what had gone wrong and that we agreed that I would be discussing their experience within the liaison team and actioning the difficulties identified. The author was triaged by a member of our team within 30 mins of referral, but it was not made clear to them regarding the length of wait. Discussions were needed around the appropriate and honest options available to them. As a service we really want to learn from the current triage system and the waiting times for the individual.

Thank you again to Nirvanono for taking the time to give me a call and properly understand what went wrong so that we can address within the team as learning.

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