Mind responds to Health Services Safety Investigations Body report
The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) today released a report on ‘inappropriate’ out of area placements (OAPs) - where a lack of an available bed in someone's local area leads them to be placed in a mental health inpatient setting that is a long way from their home and support network.
The previous government had set a target to eliminate inappropriate out of area placements by 2021.
Among the report’s key findings were:
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Harm, including psychological and physical distress and anxiety, and deaths by suicide were caused by inappropriate OAPs
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OAPs can lengthen people’s stay in hospital and contribute to harm to patients
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Patients, families and carers rarely want an OAP and their choice and opinions are not always taken into consideration when decisions about sending someone to an OAP are made
Dr Sarah Hughes, Chief Executive of Mind, said:
“This report paints a disturbing picture of patients’ and families wishes not being listened to, patients being ‘treated like criminals’ and people being torn from their wider support networks. This is a world away from what’s needed and what we know works - caring, therapeutic environments where patients’ voices are central to the treatment they receive.
“The continued use of inappropriate OAPs is a symptom of systemic problems the mental health system faces - overwhelmed community services, inadequate funding, lack of coordination between inpatient, community mental health services, primary care, social care and local authorities, among many others. The government must now use its 10-year plan and Mental Health Bill to end this practice and deliver the radical changes and funding needed to raise the standard of in-patient mental health care”.
