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Mental Health Solicitors

Mind calls for 48-hour follow up for mental health patients discharged from hospital (18 April 2017)

Date: 18/04/2017
Duncan Lewis, Mental Health Solicitors, Mind calls for 48-hour follow up for mental health patients discharged from hospital

Mental health charity Mind has revealed that thousands of mental health patients are left to cope alone after leaving a mental health hospital, potentially putting their lives at risk.

Figures released by Mind show that one in ten of those discharged from a mental health hospital after being admitted in crisis were not receiving a follow up appointment within a week of leaving hospital, surmounting to at least 11,000 people every year not receiving follow-up care.

Mind sent a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to all 56 mental health trusts in England, out of which 54 trusts responded. The FoI asked for information on how quickly people were followed up after being discharged from hospital.

Follow up – usually a face-to-face visit or a phone call – provides continued contact and ensures that the correct on-going support systems are in place.

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines currently state that all patients should be followed up within seven days because people are at high risk of post-discharge suicide in the first week after discharge from hospital.

More recent evidence from the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide shows that, of all patients who died in the first week after discharge, the highest number occurred on day three.

Mind says there is growing recognition of the urgent need for timelier follow up as a key suicide prevention measure – with both the Inquiry and the House of Commons Health Select Committee recently calling for earlier follow up after discharge.

Current NICE guidelines recommend follow up within 48 hours for some patients only – Mind is calling for a 48-hour timeframe to extend to everyone leaving hospital after a mental health crisis.

Mind also sent the FoI to the Welsh Health Boards – and found only one board could provide data.

The Aneurin Bevan University Health Board told Mind they were following up patients face-to-face, with just over half (55%) within the timeframe, but could not provide a full picture.

Mind is calling on the Welsh government and Local Health Boards to address the lack of recorded data, so that there is transparency about follow up and performance against the Welsh government’s target.

Mind also surveyed more than 850 people with mental health problems about their experiences after leaving hospital.

The poll shows those who were not followed up appropriately – after seven days or not at all – were twice as likely to attempt suicide; and a third were more likely to self-harm, compared with respondents who said they were followed up within seven days of being discharged.

Sophie Corlett, Director of External Relations at Mind, said:

”Thousands of people with mental health problems in England and Wales are not getting the appropriate follow up when they are first discharged from hospital – this is not good enough. It is a tragedy that so many people so very recently leaving the care of hospital are losing their lives.

”The government has put suicide prevention as a key patient safety issue for the NHS as a whole – and pledged to reduce suicides by ten per cent in the next five years.

“Timelier follow up for patients after they leave hospital could help achieve this… We need to see a reduction of the follow-up time to 48 hours now.”


Duncan Lewis Mental Health Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is the UK’s largest provider of Legal Aid mental health services and can advise mental health patients on a wide range of issues – including access to NHS mental health services and detention under the Mental Health Act.

Duncan Lewis mental health solicitors regularly visit NHS hospitals to advise on mental health law – and are available across England and Wales at short notice for hospital and police station appointments.

In some cases, Duncan Lewis mental health solicitors may be able to advise the nearest relative or carer of a mental health patient on a range of issues, including initiating treatment reviews where appropriate.

For expert legal advice on mental health law, call the Duncan Lewis Mental Health Solicitors Helpline on 020 3114 1124.


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