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Improving the quality of acute inpatient care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2011

Paul Lelliott  and
Sarah Bleksley
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Abstract

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Over the past ten years, the National Health Service in England has introduced home treatment teams throughout the country. Despite this, and the fact that England now has the fourth lowest number of beds per capita in Europe, no mental health service has been able to dispense with acute admission beds altogether. One unintended consequence of new investment in community alternatives to inpatient care is that the threshold for admission has risen and acute wards now accommodate a patient group that is more severe with regard to levels of disturbance and social disadvantage. This has compounded the challenge of providing high quality inpatient care and repeated national surveys suggest that acute admission wards are the weakest link in the English mental healthcare system. In response to this, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has established an accreditation scheme for acute admission wards. Only 22 of the first 132 wards to have completed the review process so far are considered to be excellent. Although 59 wards (45% of the total) failed to meet one or more essential standard, 43 of these were able to rectify the problem.

Declaration of Interest: None.

Type
Editorials
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , December 2010 , pp. 287 - 290
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

References

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