"Delays in admission to Manchester mental health services"

I work in Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust which provides care to people in Greater Manchester. For the past years, it is very well known that our trust is not performing well. However, this is getting worse lately and has since had a detrimental effect on the patient's care. That's why I decided to share my concern here and hope that someone external can do something about this trust. I am not too sure what can be done to improve the current situation although the front line staffs like myself are doing what we can to help the patients.

Currently, we have a waiting list of 15+patients waiting to be admitted into acute inpatient bed for their mental health needs. All of these patients are acutely unwell, vunerable and present a significant risk to themselves and others. Most of them have been reviewed by two medical officers and both officers had completed medical recommendation to `section' the patient into a psychiatric hospital. However, in order to complete the `section' (Mental Health Act), the patients will need to be reviewed by the Approved Social Worker or AMP within the 14 days after the medical recommendation. There is a catch 22 here whereby the AMP can't complete the section unless there is a bed available for the patients to be `sectioned' into. Since there is no bed in the trust most of the time, these patients who are acutely unwell and present a risk to themselves/others are being left in the community and continue to present a risk to themselves, public and particularly their family members.

Lately, the situation has gone worse lately when the trust has been unable to locate a bed for more than 14 days and the medical recommendation are lapsing which means the patients have remained in the community for more than 14 days and their mental health continues to deteriote since their mental health needs are not being met. It is a matter of time someone is going to get hurt and it is either a member of public or the patients themselves. This is unacceptable and dangerous considering the trust couldn't identify a bed within 14 days for patients who need immediate hospital admission to prevent harm to themselves and others. In fact, lately, we had a patient sadly passed away while waiting for hospital admission. This patient was too seen by both medical officers and was recommended to be `sectioned' into hospital. His death may not be related to his mental health but If he was to be admitted into a hospital immediately or witin a reasonable time scale, his death can most likely to be prevented.

I hope someone from the Department of Health/media is reading this and decided to do something about this. For anyone who knows anyone who is on the `waiting list', I will advise them the only way to get immediate hospital admission is through A&E since the trust will only take this seriously when they get `fined' for not able to locate a bed within 4 hours (compared to 14 days in the community). If the patient refused and is in a public place, please get the police to use their power sec 136 to convey the patient to a place of safety rather than being left in the community/family home.