Supporting Our Vulnerable Patients

An essential part of our Getting to Good journey is ensuring that people receive the same high-quality care for their mental health as for their physical health.

Improved mental health and wellbeing is associated with a range of better outcomes for people of all ages and backgrounds and forms an important element of health care.

Part of this journey has included looking at how we can improve mental health support for patients attending our Emergency Departments, as well as across all our services. This is incredibly important as attendances from patients in mental health crisis continues to rise across the country.

A vital step forward has included the appointment of our own dedicated Mental Health Lead Nurse and Clinical Nurse Specialist Mental Health, and a Mental Health Act Administrator, who work to support colleagues across the organisation to care for patients experiencing mental health issues, including advice and guidance to ensure we are meeting our legal requirements under the Mental Health Act 1983.

The dedicated roles also engage and support close collaboration and integrated working with local partner organisations including the development of third sector input into both of our Emergency Departments, such as the Mental Health Outreach and Inclusion Service.

The Mental Health Outreach and Inclusion Service, which has been recently set up at Princess Royal Hospital and has been in place at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for 18 months, is a new initiative which aims to provide improved mental health support for people who attend our Emergency Departments.

The service can be delivered in the person’s home or other settings and includes providing practical and emotional support to the individual and their family.

Mike Ford, Mental Health Lead Nurse, said: “We are committed to continuing our work and building key relationships, so that we improve the care we are providing to people with mental health issues within our services and across the local care system.

“We want to provide the best possible care for everybody and that includes people who may be experiencing mental health issues.

“We can all experience mental health issues at any time in our lives and it should be treated just as importantly as if you attend the hospital for a physical health problem.”

Alongside continuing this work, next steps for the team include the development of a Mental Health charter and strategy, improved data reporting through the new Careflow system and early flagging of people within our care with diagnosed Learning Disability Autism and Severe Mental Illness.