"Crisis Services at A&E for MH patients with physical or sensory disability-No access to the right care"

My friend is known to MH services.

She is told to go to A&E and see the mental health liaison team in crisis. She only goes if persuaded by others and when extremely unwell.. This team  is a different team to the crisis team. In this Trust it is based in the hospital .Their job is to ensure those with physical healthcare and mental health care get integrated care. At UCH the MH Trust provides this team who have an office at the MH suite in A&E.

She had not been there for over 2 years but had been to the Whittington where there was NO accessible rooms for MH pts nor any additional support to meet the care needs at home she has a full care package for. That team too is provided by this MH Trust and they know there is a problem. In mental health at the Whittington and UCH from our experience there are no nurses allocated and security guards are allocated instead at the direction of the liaison team it seems.

She needed a fully accessible room like all non mh pts get. Instead in MH there is a 2 seater sofa or chair or the floor and it seems you can be kept there lawfully for 24 hrs without being able to rest, lie down, sleep.  She was kept there last time 28 hrs 

We rang the hospital ahead of trying to get there and to ask if she would be allocated an accessible cubicle in the main A&E. She has severe joint problems and uses walking aids and on occasion a wheelchair. She has a lot of pain and the MH Trust agree her disability needs are high. The A&E suite have isolation rooms used for infection control that are en suite and can be used. But in our experience aren't.

The nurse that answered the phone in the MH Liasion team was as rude and dismissive as thy could be. The literally told her that if she wanted not needed  an accessible room then she had to ask the nurse in charge of A&E. They  kept telling a VERY unwell person that it was their responsibility to sort out your own disability needs

This seems to us to be part of the liaisons job to consider the physical care needs of patients. . I felt their  attitude was disgusting and aggressive and they kept saying -its your responsibility-when asked if they  could help assist.

This was on early hrs one morning in late August.

How about this Trust starts taking responsibility?