Tag Archives: mental health

NHS patients ‘should not face constant moves’

September 12, 2013   Carers, disability, hospital, mental health

Patients often face multiple moves around hospital

By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News

Hospital ward The era of NHS patients being shunted around hospitals needs to end, an expert group says.

The Future Hospital Commission – set up by the Royal College of Physicians – said a radical revamp in structures was needed to bring care to the patient.

This was particularly true for frail people with complex needs, who often faced multiple moves once admitted to hospital, the report said.

It also recommended closer working with teams in the community.

The commission said this could involve doctors and nurses running clinics in the community and even visiting people in their own homes – as is already happening in a few places.

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Police: A&E 'better' than cells for mentally unwell

September 9, 2013   Carers, mental health

Detention in cells is intended to be used only in exceptional circumstances

 

 

Ch Supt Irene Curtis says A&E would be a “better place” when mental health units are unable to take them.

Care minister Norman Lamb has described the standard of some crisis care as a “national scandal.”

The Association of Chief Police Officers says dealing with mentally ill people takes up a fifth of police time.

Police can detain people where no crime has been committed but they suspect the person is mentally unwell. The temporary police power is called a section 136.

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Hundreds of thousands of elderly people were abused last year

September 8, 2013   Carers, health, mental health, Older care

Elderly people are being routinely ill-treated by carers or relatives, says Lib Dem MP Paul Burstow

 

Elderly people across the country are being routinely ill-treated according to Lib Dem MP Paul Burstow.

As many as 370,000 older people have been abused in their own homes by a carer, relative or friend in the last year, according to figures, exposing what has been described as a “hidden national scandal”.

The number aged over 65 who are physically, psychologically or financially persecuted at home every year is likely to reach almost half a million by the end of the decade.

Elderly men and women across the country, from all walks of life, are routinely ill-treated, yet former health minister Paul Burstow warns that their plight is often ignored or dismissed.

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