As during previous mental health crisis’ I made the difficult decision to go to the local Accident and Emergency department yesterday. It seems pretty ridiculous that this is the only way for me to access crisis support when experiencing a bipolar episode but sometimes I can’t see any other way. I had also waited nearly 2 months after my GP refered me urgently in early February and I had experienced the toughest weekend.

We decided that yesterday morning might be a sensible time to go but it doesn’t take away the huge anxiety that is associated with that place and also reminds me every time of the most horrendous recent experiences that I have had there.

On arrival there is now a process of ‘streaming’ to ensure that people are directed to the relevant department. One thing that I immediately noticed here was that the ‘streaming’ nurse didn’t say hello or introduce herself.  It is a shame that one of the large London hospital trusts (not the mental health trust) haven’t signed up to ‘hello my name is….’ or if they have that staff aren’t using it which is a shame especially for those facing patients walking through the door.

She spent less than a minute with me, just writing down my surname, date of birth and handing me a piece of paper to take to the main desk. After checking in we waited in a slowly filling up waiting area which I would find anxiety provoking at the best of times for about an hour before seeing the accident and emergency triage. The nurse here was actually supportive and explained that the mental health nurses would be contacted from the other trust to come and see me. She was slightly more friendly than the ‘streaming’ nurse but did have that ‘lets get you out quick’ approach! 

We then waited for what normally is an eternity to see the mental health team. After only half an hour we were pleasantly surprised when a nurse appeared and as we were walking to a consultation room she greeted us warmly, introduced herself and another nurse and was just amazing from the moment we met her.  As usual though she had been given a totally inappropriate room to conduct her assessment in – it had a bed and 1 chair. My friend and I decided to help them out and sit on the bed and they managed to beg a chair from the hospital staff (another problem of having to go to another trust to see mental health staff). 

Once sorted in this rather strange room I was immediately reassured by the mental health nurse and given my currently state that is some achievement. Instead of going through a laborious checklist assessment she talked freely with me and completed different parts of the assessment as she went.  This approach immediately puts me at ease and staff concerned get a much better overview of where I am at the moment instead of just concentrating on receiving one or two word answers to sometimes irrelevant questions.  The other member of staff made notes and asked a few questions which weren’t at all helpful but probably she felt she had to ask something! The senior staff nurse not only grasped quickly the severity of my crisis but also grasped the type of support I so desperately need. She didn’t appear shocked and at every opportunity reassured me and treated me like a fellow human being.  

After about 40 mins she left to speak to a doctor and when she returned she explained that unfortunately the crisis team or home treatment team that it is sometimes called had no capacity.  She had though noticed that I had a Liason Intake Assessment (LIT) on Friday and was pretty sure that they would refer me to the Short Term Intervention team (SIT) so she was able to do that for me there and then and therefore I wouldn’t need to go to the probably rather pointless LIT appointment on Friday. 

I am now waiting for the SIT team to contact me and hoping they do very soon as it is a little frustrating to go through the accident and emergency process only to be still without the support I so desperately need. I am hugely grateful to the nurse who saw me yesterday and proud to be a governor for the trust where she works and impressed that they and obviously she are using ‘Hello my name is ….’. I just hope this isn’t a one off and that the system is slowly improving and that the people I will see during the next few days and weeks will be as equally supportive and professional.