Just 10 trusts responsible for half of ‘unacceptable’ placements

Just 10 trusts account for more than half of patients ‘inappropriately’ sent out of their area for a mental health bed – with dozens having to travel up to 300km, according to HSJ analysis.

Official NHS data for adults shows these 10 mental health providers accounted for 9,485 “inappropriate” out of area placement bed days during July, out of 18,705 across the 44 trusts reported nationally. 

At one trust, Sussex Partnership FT, 40 placements were recorded as being between 200km and 300km away in that single month. The trust has revealed in board papers that four were sent to Glasgow. It has cited a shortage of capacity in the Kent and Sussex adult eating disorder service having led to 25 OAPs, and also said “quality concerns” had caused a temporary lack of acute beds in the county.

Nationally, levels of “inappropriate” out of area placement – where people with acute mental health needs are sent up to hundreds of miles for a bed – are rising again, driven by quality failures, bed closures and staffing shortages.

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Source: HSJ, 3 November 2022