NursingNotes
No Result
View All Result
Subscribe
  • Newsroom
    • Workforce
    • Professional Regulation
    • Health Politics
    • Education
    • Clinical Updates
  • Clinical
    • Acute Care
    • Community Care
    • Emergency Medicine
    • General Practice
    • End of Life Care
    • Social Care
  • Features
  • Students
  • Resources
  • Opinion
  • Discuss
NursingNotes
No Result
View All Result

Mental health patients are being ‘treated as second-class citizens’

Hundreds of patients are being sent to private mental health hospitals often hundreds of miles from home.

by Ian Snug
25/06/2019
in Clinical Updates, Mental Health
2 min read
Cutbacks in mental health

Adobe

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Five million people are reliant entirely on out-of-area private sector provision.

An investigation by the British Medical Association (BMA) has revealed a widespread practice of NHS patients with serious mental health issues being sent to private mental health hospitals often hundreds of miles from home.

The doctor union has criticised this move as they claim it isolates patients from family members and means there is no NHS doctor overseeing their treatment.

ADVERTISEMENT

Research by the BMA’s Doctor magazine found NHS mental health rehabilitation wards have all but disappeared from 18 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) and NHS trusts in England, leaving five million people in those areas reliant entirely on out-of-area private sector provision.

Figures by the union reveal a £21m increased spend by the NHS on the private sector between 2016/17 and 2018 but an increase of just £2m for NHS providers.

No place in mental health care.

Commenting on the findings, the BMA lead for mental health, psychiatrist, Dr Andrew Molodynski, said:

“This practice goes against the very nature of rehabilitation which should be a transitional process, helping to reintegrate a patient back into society.

“As seen in the cases of Whorlton Hall and Winterbourne, the ‘cut-off’ nature of these institutions can be a breeding ground for the development of harsh and abusive cultures. This has no place in modern mental healthcare.”

“As well as the debilitating impact on the patient, the eye-watering sums being spent on out-of-area private providers is a clear sign that the Government must get a grip on this worrying practice. There are no positives here for patients, families, care services, or the public purse- quite the opposite. We need to ensure that care is available closer to home to give patients the best possible chance of recovery and reintegration.”

Safe, therapeutic environments.

Paul Farmer, Chief Executive of Mind, said: “Rehabilitation services play a vital role in helping people to return to living more independently in their communities. They help people get out of cycles of repeat A&E visits and acute inpatient admissions – which is better for them and for the health service. We know good care is possible and that there are places where people are having their needs met in appropriate settings. This should be the case everywhere.

“The lack of NHS rehabilitation services in some areas is further evidence of the need for significant investment to improve the state of the buildings where people receive care – so that wards provide safe, therapeutic environments for people.

“The NHS has rightly committed to improve mental health services and this must include ensuring that people can get the treatment they need, when they need it and close to home.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Treated as second-class citizens.

Responding to a new investigation by the BMA into out of area mental health placements, RCN Professional Lead for Mental Health Catherine Gamble said:

“The NHS still hasn’t got to the point where people with mental health problems get the same access to care. They still await the same standards of care as people trying to get treatment for a physical health problem.

“At present, people with serious mental illness risk being treated as second-class citizens by the health service. We won’t close this gap until action replaces rhetoric.

“Our members working in mental health understand that their patients deserve better than the situations outlined in this investigation in which people are kept far from home, friends and family.

Tags: British Medical AssociationMental Health
Leave Comment

Related Posts

Emergency department waiting room
Emergency Medicine

Patients face huge waits in Emergency Departments as hospitals head into the “worst-ever” winter, warns BMA

07/11/2019
MMR Vaccine
Clinical Updates

Health Secretary ‘looking very seriously’ at compulsory vaccines for children

01/10/2019
Hospital Empty Ward
Health Politics

New hospitals are useless ‘without the staff to operate them’

30/09/2019
ADVERTISEMENT

Popular Articles

Westminster

MPs vote against protecting the NHS from privatisation

24/10/2019
Ben Bradley MP

‘Public sector workers should quit if think they are not paid well enough’, says MP

17/01/2018
World Health Organization Flag

WHO declares 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife”

05/02/2019
police

On-duty district nurse robbed and threatened with knife

25/11/2019
Cutbacks in mental health

Mental health patients are being ‘treated as second-class citizens’

25/06/2019
Water jugs DBTH

Trust aids patient hydration using a simple traffic light system

29/11/2019
ADVERTISEMENT
NursingNotes

NursingNotes has been created for nurses by nurses.

Follow Us

Top Categories

  • Workforce
  • Newsroom
  • Clinical Updates
  • Health Politics
  • Professional Regulation
  • Opinion
  • Education
  • Mental Health
  • Resources
  • Maternity
  • Social Care
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Acute Medicine
  • Community Care
  • Patient Safety
  • Infection Control

Recent Posts

  • Emergency funding is needed to boost student nurse numbers in England, says RCN
  • Interest in nursing jobs falls by a fifth in just two years
  • Nursing associates could be used to fill nurse vacancies, leaked NHS document suggests

The Handover

Keep with the the latest nursing news by subscribing.

Please wait...

Thank you for sign up!

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • About us
  • Contact us

© 2019 NursingNotes.co.uk

No Result
View All Result
  • Clinical Care
    • Acute Medicine
    • Community Care
    • Elderly Care
    • Emergency Medicine
    • End of Life Care
    • General Practice
    • Infection Control
    • Learning Disabilities
    • Maternity
    • Mental Health
    • Neonatal
    • Oncology & Heamatology
    • Peadiatrics
    • Prescribing
    • Public Health
    • Social Care
    • Surgery
  • Features
  • Newsroom
    • Clinical Updates
    • Education
    • Health Politics
    • International Nursing
    • Professional Regulation
    • Workforce
  • Opinion
  • Resources
    • Agenda for Change
  • Students
  • Sponsored

© 2019 NursingNotes.co.uk