More patients failed as lack of beds for mental health patients still a crisis

Just under 6,000 mental health patients in England had to travel out of their local community last year because of a lack of hospital beds, new figures show.

It was reported some patients had to travel nearly 300 miles away to receive treatment. One trust even had to declare a major incident.

The figures reported by the BBC, were obtained through Freedom of Information requests and are up 13% on the previous year.

During 2014-15, 4,804 patients were treated out of their local areas. In the year following that had risen by 12.6% to, 5,411.

Data from 28 trusts going back to 2011 shows the extent of the problem. In 2011-12 there were 1,215 patients place out of the area. In 2015-16 that had risen by 236%.

Minister of State at the Department of Health, Alistair Burt has called the situation unacceptable and promises it will stop within five years. But this is an issue I have been posting about on my blog for over a year.

Being sent “out of area” for treatment means patients are being cared for in a unit not run by the trust whose care they are under.

On some occasions it is appropriate to send a patient outside of their area, if they can get more specialised care. Experts say that patients who get sent to other areas routinely can increase the risk of suicide. These figures that were acquired by the BBC and Community Care magazine, show the problem is in fact getting worse.

SOURCE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36333850

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