‘Woeful scarcity’: NHS psychiatrist decries lack of mental health beds

‘Woeful scarcity’: NHS psychiatrist decries lack of mental health beds As a psychiatrist, I reserve admission to a mental health hospital bed for only the most unwell patients, whose mental health has collapsed. But despite my very best efforts to keep as many patients as I can out of hospital, bed pressures pervade every aspect of my daily work. The decision about whether or not we can admit a patient with a psychotic relapse who is not eating or drinking, for example, must first be agreed by the trust’s bed-management team. The woeful and worsening scarcity of NHS mental health beds forces psychiatrists to make very difficult judgments about a patient’s need for care and the risk they pose. The Guardian

See also:

• NHS paying £2bn a year to private hospitals for mental health patients The Guardian