Providing streamlined multiagency care for high-intensity users of mental health and emergency services
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Providing streamlined multiagency care for high-intensity users of mental health and emergency services

Sharon Lewry High-intensity service user coordinator/senior practitioner, Acute mental health team, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, England

Mental health service users often use emergency services and emergency departments (EDs) at a higher rate than the average member of the public. It has been proposed that a multiagency approach, encompassing emergency services, the ED, liaison psychiatry, local social services, approved mental health practitioners, substance misuse services and the acute mental health team, may lead to a more appropriate interaction with mental health services and a reduction in crisis contact with other agencies. This article describes how a practitioner has been appointed for 12 months to coordinate care planning for the complex client group of people with mental health problems who are high-intensity users of emergency services. It is hoped that at the end of this period there will be a measurable reduction in their use of emergency services and the ED, and increased contact with crisis mental health services.

Mental Health Practice. doi: 10.7748/mhp.2018.e1190

Citation

Lewry S (2018) Providing streamlined multiagency care for high-intensity users of mental health and emergency services. Mental Health Practice. doi: 10.7748/mhp.2018.e1190

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

s.lewry@nhs.net

Conflict of interest

None declared

Published online: 24 May 2018

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