Over half of patients with mental health issues receive poor physical and mental healthcare

Hospital patients with mental health problems are not receiving good enough care for either their mind or body, a new report warns.

Fewer than half of those who visit hospital with a physical condition but also happen to have a mental health problem receive good quality care, according to the latest report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD).

The authors, who carried out detailed reviews of 552 cases from patients across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, concluded that general hospital staff often did not have the knowledge or confidence to care for patients with mental health issues properly.

Other problems identified in the report include inadequate mental health history being taken down, not enough patients being reviewed by psychiatric teams, a lack of access to records and a lack of training for staff.

The authors called for hospitals to integrate physical and mental healthcare services as a matter of urgency.

“Good care was only provided to 46% of patients in this study, showing patients who had a mental health condition suffered the double whammy of both poor physical and mental healthcare,” said report co-author Dr Vivek Srivastava.

“The systems don’t exist to train hospital staff appropriately in the care of patients who also happen to have a mental health condition, so immediately there is an issue with having the confidence to care for this group of patients.

“Once someone is admitted to hospital it is likely to expose any underlying issue such as a mental health problem and staff need to have the confidence to deal with this and have access to and know how to refer to mental health services.”

Dr Srivastava added that because of poor physical healthcare, patients with a mental health condition often stayed longer in hospital.

He said: “They are often discharged into the community inappropriately and then bounce back in and out of hospital if the underlying health condition is not treated properly.”

Co-author Dr Sean Cross added: “Our report reveals a massive divide between the physical healthcare and mental healthcare people receive in general hospitals.

“One in four of us will suffer a mental health condition at some point in our lifetime.

“General hospitals need to take mental healthcare seriously and understand how to provide holistic care for mind and body.”

NCEPOD chairwoman Professor Lesley Regan, said: “This report should be a clarion call that we have a major problem that will be difficult to untangle and in the meantime we are failing a significant proportion of our patients.”

_{Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2017, All Rights Reserved.}