The Way Ahead for Adult Acute Mental Healthcare Provision – Crisp Commission

From The Royal College of Psychiatrists.
 
Faster access to acute care and an end to sending severely-ill mental health patients long distances are among the recommendations made in a new report launched by an Independent Commission led by Lord Nigel Crisp and supported by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
The Commission was set up in 2015 to address the issues facing patients in England needing acute care for mental health problems; patients who currently have no guarantee that they will be treated swiftly or even that the care they receive will be of an expected standard.
In 2014/15, 1.8 million people in England used mental health services, with 103,840 being admitted to hospital.
Current estimates suggest that around 500 mentally ill people have to travel over 50km to be admitted into hospital every month. These long distance admissions are mainly due to difficulties in finding acute inpatient beds or suitable alternative services in their home area, and are a symptom of far more widespread problems in the functioning of the whole mental health system.
With system-wide problems including variable quality of care in inpatient units, inadequate availability of inpatient care or alternatives to inpatient admission when needed, and patients remaining in hospital for longer than necessary due to inadequate residential provision, the acute psychiatric care system was well overdue for a review.
The Commission’s report consequently recommends significant changes to how mental health services are commissioned, organised and monitored across the whole mental health system.
Read the full story and access the report here