"Emotional support animals, hot drinks, and a lounge to relax in: this is what greets you if you walk into a specialist emergency mental health unit in west London. The centre in Ladbroke Grove is designed to be a calmer, more suitable alternative to A&E departments. It can also provide support more quickly: patients are seen "within 15 minutes". Karalyn, a patient with complex mental health needs, says she prefers the centre because there's more certainty, whereas "it's a waiting game in A&E"."
""Any of us who've been to A&E recently will know it's busy, noisy, with beeps going off, and bright lights all day long," said Claire Murdoch, chief executive of the Central and NW London NHS Foundation Trust. "Whereas if you come to this centre with a mental health crisis, not only is there expertise but there's also a place to relax or sleep, while we do the best assessment we possibly can." She added: "We can take as long as necessary to understand what's caused your emergency and what treatment you need.""
A specialist emergency mental health unit in Ladbroke Grove provides a calmer, therapeutic environment with sofas, bedrooms, a kitchen, hot drinks and visits from emotional support animals. The centre aims to be a more suitable alternative to busy A&E departments and offers faster access to specialist assessment, with patients seen within 15 minutes. Staff can take time to assess causes of crises and determine appropriate treatment. Patients report shorter, more predictable waits and greater certainty about care compared with lengthy waits and noisy conditions in A&E. NHS data show around 20,000 monthly A&E attendances for mental health in England.
Read at www.bbc.com
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