"Mental health in A&E"

After several years of stable functioning, my mental health deteriorated quite suddenly and I attended A&E to see the Crisis team for some de-escalation. I was told there was a long wait and I would have to wait some time. This truly did not matter - I was absolutely amazed by the quality of treatment I received from the Crisis team. They were obviously working a long time past the end of their shift but they made me feel as if I was the first person they had seen all day and that they had all the time in the world for me. Due to the urges I was having and my out-of-control emotions, I had to have the most embarrassing, humiliating conversation I think I have ever had with anyone. It didn't matter to them - they were utterly non-judgemental, cool and reassuring. I went home that night, still feeling frightened and in some danger - but reassured that I had been taken seriously and that I was in very good hands. The quality of follow-up care that I have received since has also been impressive. I am still unwell and frustrated that my daily functioning is limited but I trust your staff to help me recover. I think I was in A&E for about 7 hours. It didn't matter. My experience shows how irrelevant the 4-hr target times can be. You MUST start taking more account of the quality of care provided rather than the time taken to provide it - and I am a member of hospital staff so I speak from both perspectives. Your mental health team were so thorough and careful, even though they had a heavy caseload, that they must have given each of their patients the excellent care they gave me. That is well worth waiting for and they were outstanding. Thank you