Young mental health patients discharged from hospitals to holiday caravans, B&B hostels and made homeless
An independent report published today by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) has found that young people who have only just turned 18, are being discharged from mental health hospitals to bed and breakfast hostels, caravans on holiday sites, or even being made homeless.
Bereaved families and carers told HSSIB that while community mental health support was put in place, they felt it fell far below what was suitable to meet their loved one’s needs.
The report is the latest in a series of investigations into mental health inpatient settings, announced last year by the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. It follows a growing number of whistleblowing stories and pressure from leading mental health charity Mind as part of its Raise the Standard campaign.
Key findings of today’s report included:
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Young people may be discharged to adult services simply because they have reached ‘transition age’ overnight and not because their mental health care needs have changed.
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Young people being discharged from children’s wards are often not able to access adult inpatient services because the thresholds for support are different between services, leaving them without care or with inadequate care.
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Young people are being discharged from mental health hospitals to bed and breakfast hostels, holiday caravans or even made homeless due to a lack of suitable mental health facilities.
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The approaches to care and family involvement are very different between child and adult services, and young people and their families are not well prepared for this. This lack of communication and planning can cause anxiety for some young people, with one saying: “I started to hide how unwell I was. Because I decided that I’d rather get out than go to an adult ward.”
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Services at a local level are not always well integrated and this contributes to issues with transitions.
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One young person said: “Most of us have been in hospitals for years. You don’t actually gain your life skills because you’ve been in hospital and they don’t teach you how to do stuff, and then they discharge you.”
Dr Sarah Hughes, Chief Executive of Mind, said:
“Mental health problems do not disappear on your 18th birthday, but too often the support does. Young people, who are so unwell they are spending years of their lives in mental health hospitals and require round the clock care, face a cliff edge of support between and children and adult services.
“Discharging a vulnerable 18-year-old who may lack the life skills needed to live independently, to a holiday caravan or bed & breakfast hostel, or even making them homeless, when only a day before they were eligible to receive 24/7 care, is unforgivable. What’s needed are flexible transitions and people’s situations to be treated on a case-by-case basis, which can deliver safer and more successful outcomes.
“This report comes at a time when mental health funding is under severe threat. Removing the Mental Health Investment Standard, which protects mental health funding, when inpatient care is already broken and leaving young people in retraumatised states, would be catastrophic. Too many people face neglect and abuse in mental health hospitals, in run-down, crumbling wards, just to be discharged to wildly inappropriate aftercare settings or left without a home at all.
“It’s horrifying that the government is considering a scenario where things are made even worse. Instead, it must commit to a comprehensive offer for young people up to 25 in its new NHS 10-year-plan, with the necessary funding to deliver it. We must also raise the standard of mental health hospitals and reform the Mental Health Act to make inpatient facilities truly therapeutic spaces.”
