Large hospital trusts still missing key crisis support in A&E

Some of the country’s leading acute hospitals are not meeting a key NHS standard for mental health support in emergency departments, HSJ research suggests, with some regions faring better than others.

Latest official estimates indicate that more than a third of EDs (36 per cent) are not yet meeting ‘core 24’ standards for psychiatric liaison – which requires a minimum of 1.5 full-time equivalent consultants and 11 mental health practitioners.

The long-term plan target is for 70 per cent of acute trust emergency departments to have the optimum ‘core 24’ standard service by 2023-24. The NHS appears to be on track to hit this, with significant progress made, despite the pandemic.

Annabel Price, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ liaison faculty, said tackling the workforce crisis with a fully funded plan would “prove instrumental in boosting recruitment across all acute trusts”.

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Source: HSJ, 23 August 2022