News release: 23 July 2008
In response to the publication of the Healthcare Commission’s review of NHS acute inpatient mental health services, ‘The Pathway to Recovery’, Simon Lawton-Smith, Head of Policy at the Mental Health Foundation, said:
“Nobody should have to put up with poor quality care, so it’s frankly scandalous that nearly a quarter of acute mental health beds are being provided by trusts whose quality and safety of care were found to be “weak”. It is especially frustrating that there is such a wide variation in the standards of care on offer.
“We need to face the fact that inpatient care is failing in what should be its first priority – to help people get better. For too many vulnerable people, inpatient wards are a place they end up because we have nothing better to offer them. Acute inpatient units are often, in effect, places of safety masquerading as a therapeutic response.”
“While there may always be a need for acute wards as a place of safety – and many units are currently failing to provide even that – we need a more radical approach to what care is offered to people in crisis. Far greater use needs to be made of alternatives to inpatient wards, such as intensive community care, short stay residential units and day hospitals.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
For further information, please contact the press office team on 020 7803 1126/1128/30.
The Mental Health Foundation uses research and practical projects to help people survive, recover from and prevent mental health problems. We work to influence policy, including government at the highest levels. And we use our knowledge to raise awareness and to help tackle the stigma attached to mental illness. We reach millions of people every year through our media work, information booklets and online services.
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