Mental health professionals are sending ‘critically unwell’ patients home because they cannot secure them hospital care due to a shortage of available beds, a survey by the Royal College of Psychiatrists has found.

The pressure on beds has also led hospital managers to tell doctors they will only accept patients who have been detained under the Mental Health Act – a process that imposes a series of restrictions on patients’ liberty – and refuse to take patients who agreed to admission voluntarily, the research found. Similar problems were reported by Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) in a survey published last year.

Under the Mental Health Act code of practice professionals have an obligation to seek the ‘least restrictive’ care possible for patients. In most cases a decision to detain a person under the Act requires agreement from three professionals, usually an AMHP and two doctors.