If somebody is at risk to themselves, A&E is often where they’ll end up. The issue is, is this the best setting to be handling with mental health conditions? 

Within A&E, it is known to have long waiting times, busy waiting rooms and an overall unpleasant experience for anybody who requires help, irrespective if it’s for their mental health, physical health or both. 

For those experiencing mental health issues, many may find A&E too overwhelming. Rather than being supported, many can end up waiting at least 12 hours for a bed, with some waiting days. Bright lights, noise and the constant movement of people walking up and down the corridors can lead to sensory overload for people who are neurodivergent and can heighten people’s anxiety. 

Whilst some parts of the countries have dedicated places for 24/7 support for mental health, such as feeling suicidal or experiencing psychosis, this isn’t country wide. A concern raised by many, however, is the lack of physical healthcare within these settings. In an ideal world, where the concept of funding didn’t exist, what is needed is 24/7 mental health centres with adequate mental health and physical health support. 

For some, they will benefit from dark rooms. For others, distractions such as puzzles, are needed whilst waiting. Adequate staffing is needed to ensure the correct ratio of staff to patient is present so that patients aren’t a risk to themselves. These staff need to be trained in mental health, as opposed to the job being pushed onto premises security. The staff themselves need to be supported to reduce the risk of burn out. Indoor and outdoor spaces are needed so that people have the choice of where they’d want to wait. 

Another issue posed by A&E and the current state of mental health services is that often people get turned away. Unless somebody is in immediate risk, they are discharged due to ‘not meeting the threshold’. The problem is, why should we wait until someone is at that stage before they receive support? For physical health conditions you wouldn’t wait until somebody is terminal before receiving support so why should that be the case for mental health?

By implementing this, as a direct result of insufficient funding to the NHS, patients end up going in and out of hospitals and mental health treatment until they get the support they need. Patients are sometimes told that, unless they improve, they will get discharged. There have even been instances of mental health services moving to, what can only be described as, palliative care. 

The issue is, nobody should be denied support and treatment for their mental health. By implementing these policies or procedures, people end up in an endless loop rather than getting the support they need at their first point of contacting mental health services. 

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