Steep rise in patients sent out of city for mental health care

Some were treated as far away as Hereford, Slough and Weston-Super-Mare. Patients in their 80s and 90s were among those cared for outside Leeds, which has several in-patient units including the Becklin Centre, near St James’s Hospital. In 2012/13, 232 people were sent out of the area, compared with 130 the previous year – which a health campaign group said was “of great concern”. Jeremy Pritlove, from Leeds Hospital Alert, said: “It is unacceptable for any Leeds patient with mental health problems not to be able to access treatment in their home city, but instead to be sent away, sometimes many miles distant from their home and neighbourhood. “In view of all the problems which out of area placements mean for patients, families and the mental health service as a whole, it is of great concern that the number of these placements has almost doubled over the last two years.” Leeds patients may be placed outside the city if there is no suitable bed available, if a resident becomes ill whilst away or if the patient works for Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust (LYPFT) – which runs mental health services. Mr Pritlove said that the placements were wasteful of public money as most were in private hospitals. He said bed shortages were mainly to blame, but LYPFT said demand for hospital admissions had remained static for the past two years. However the length of stays had increased, partly owing to delayed discharges. A spokesman said they aimed for people to be treated in Leeds and where this was not possible, worked to ensure there was continuity of care and patients could return as soon as possible. “Where someone has to access treatment ‘out of area’, we aim to make sure that this is as close as possible to Leeds, but, depending on a person’s specific needs, sometimes this may need to be further afield,” he said. “The trust is continuing to work to minimise the use of out of area treatment providers.” He added that efforts to tackle the issue included a new Accommodation Gateway scheme, which involves ensuring that any housing issues are picked up when a patient is admitted and solved by the time they go home. It is hoped this will prevent repeated hospital stays because of problems with housing.