Crisis service criticised over man’s care

Michael Warner, 53, of Ecclesall, Sheffield, suffers from long-term anxiety problems.

He said he rang an out-of-hours GP in the early hours of July 1 after his condition deteriorated and he became “extremely distressed”. The doctor passed on his details to a crisis intervention team but they failed to contact him apparently owing to clinical demands.

Details of his call were given to community mental health teams but he said they only got in touch with him three days later, last Monday.

Mr Warner, who is also a patient governor at Sheffield teaching hospitals, said he was seriously concerned about the delays contacting him.

“The whole point of a service like that is that you are seen as a matter of urgency and not contacted a few days later,” he said.

Clive Clarke, executive director at Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We would like to assure Mr Warner that we will investigate and are more than happy to talk to him directly about his concerns.”