Crisis patients turn to police as out-of-hours emergency line gets no answer
3 Jul 2013 17:12
It’s claimed the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust number regularly goes unanswered – leaving people with no choice but to seek help elsewhere.
Mental health patients in crisis have started turning up at police stations for help – because they cannot get through to an emergency phone line.
A patients’ group says the out-of-hours Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust number regularly goes unanswered – leaving people with no choice but to seek help elsewhere.
Some patients worried about harming themselves or others have begun going to police stations, where they know they will be looked after and found an ambulance, says Manchester Users’ Group.
Other mental health patients are calling the 111 NHS phone line, meant for non-emergency health advice. The situation has been slammed as ‘unacceptable’ by north Manchester MP Graham Stringer – who has pledged to investigate.
Earlier this year the M.E.N. revealed people ringing the same helpline – which goes through to the Park House unit at North Manchester General – were being told to phone the Samaritans instead because staff were too busy to answer.
Now patients say there is no answerphone at all, and the number regularly rings out. Trust bosses have promised to ‘audit’ the service.
The phone line is designed for patients already being treated for illnesses – including depression, schizophrenia and personality disorders – who feel their condition deteriorating.
Paul Reed, chair of patients’ group Manchester Users’ Network, said: “It’s often impossible to get through to anyone on the out-of-hours helpline so people are having to turn to other sources of help.
“Mental health services in Manchester are in a terrible state at the moment.”
One mental health services user, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I find it very difficult to get through on the phone line when I am having a crisis.
“A lot of the other people I have spoken to also just ring 111 now rather than the crisis line because it’s hard to get through.”
Graham Stringer, Labour MP for North Manchester, said: “As long as I’ve been an MP the mental health trust has had resourcing problems and been at or near the bottom of league tables.
“It appears this is not getting any better and both staff and patients are being put at risk. “I will now be writing to the mental health trust to raise this with them.”
Stuart Hatton, chief operating officer at Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust, said: “We have no record of complaints from our service users regarding this service.
“As with all our services the Trust continually reviews its effectiveness both via direct feedback and ‘mystery shopping’ by members of the executive team.
“We have recently invited our service users to take part in an audit of all Trust telephone support services.”
Full Credit: Amy Glendinning From The Reporting Offices of Manchester Evening News
Link: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/health/crisis-patients-turn-police-out-of-hours-4830337