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Mental health liaison team
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About the service
The mental health liaison team provides diagnosis, support and information to people who are in a general hospital (in accident and emergency or as an inpatient) and experiencing problems with their mental health.
The team is based at two sites – Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary – and functions 24/7.
The team aims to reduce mental health distress as quickly as possible, so provides a rapid assessment. The assessment can help provide a diagnosis and support people during their stay in hospital as well as give information about other organisations that can offer continued support.
Our team of staff are from a variety of different professions so that they can offer the best possible care and advice. The team is made up of doctors, including consultant psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health nurses and social workers.
The role and function of the team are to reduce hospital admissions, reduce re-admissions and length of stay.
Why would someone choose the service?
- The service looks to improve quality care and outcomes for patients with physical and mental health conditions by supporting recovery, self-management and wellbeing.
- The service enables patients to maintain their independence.
- We work closely with people to decide on the best options together and provide the best possible care to reduce admission, re-admissions and length of stay in hospital.
Staff you may meet
- Dietitians use the science of food to help people to make good choices about food and lifestyle. Nutrition is an important part of recovery and wellbeing. All service users admitted to a Trust ward have their nutritional state assessed.
- There are more than 60 different specialities that doctors work within the NHS. Each is unique but there are many characteristics which are common. Roles range from working in a hospital to being based in the community as a GP.
- There are many people who work behind the scenes to keep services running and you may meet them in hospital or community settings. They include porters, cleaners, plumbers, electricians, decorators receptionists and secretaries who all work to make sure healthcare settings are kept clean, tidy and safe.
- Nurses who choose to specialise in the mental health branch of nursing work with GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others, to help care for patients. Increasingly, care is given in the community, with mental health nurses visiting patients and their families at home, in residential centres, in prisons or in specialist clinics or units.
- Nursing or healthcare assistants work in hospital or community settings under the guidance of a qualified healthcare professional. They help doctors, nurses and therapists give people the care and treatment they need.
- Occupational therapy is the assessment and treatment of physical and psychiatric conditions using specific, purposeful activity to prevent disability and promote independent function in all aspects of daily life.
- The NHS employs a wide range of clinical staff, it wouldn’t be possible to list them all on this website! All our clinical staff are skilled, dedicated professionals who adhere to high standards of training and work-place practice.
- Physiotherapists help people to improve their range of movement in order to promote health and well being. This can help people to live more independently.
- Social workers help, support and protect people who are facing difficulties in their lives. They help people to take positive steps to overcome problems and improve their lives. This could involve assessing and reviewing a service user’s situation, building relationships with service users and their families and agreeing what practical support someone needs.
- We have a range of specialist advisors working in our Trust – they give advice on a wide range of different things, depending on what service they work in. So it could be, for example, mental health, stopping smoking, healthy eating or diabetes.
- We have a range of health workers who all have different specialities. This could be in a certain condition, a therapy or the advice they can give you. Our specialists our highly skilled and trained professionals, ready to offer you help and advice whenever you need it.
Why a professional should choose the service
- The service provides equitable care and improves health outcomes for people with physical and mental health co-morbidity.
- We provide a rapid response to referrals for assessment, support and advice and aim to improve joint working with hospital staff.
- The service aims to reduce waiting time in the emergency department, reduce re-attendance in the emergency department and reduce the length of stay in hospital.
- We provide input into ward areas for assessment, review and ongoing support, and facilitate early and improved discharge planning.
- We look to increase the discharge of people to their own homes as opposed to residential care.
- We also provide mental health training to hospital staff and promote the more efficient use of hospital bed capacity.
Support offered
- Rapid assessment (within one hour for people in A&E and within four hours for people on wards)
- Timely access to treatment for mental health problems
- Access to assessment and/or brief intervention by a consultant clinical psychologist
- Monitoring of mental health symptoms
- Formal and informal teaching to all staff
- Gatekeeping to secondary mental health services
- Referral on to other services or organisations who may be able to help further
Outcomes
- Reduce admissions to hospital
- Reduce average length of stay
- Reduce re-admission
Referrals accepted from:
A & E, Hospital staff, Midwives, Other NHS services, Patients(self-referral)
Referral criteria:
The person must be aged over 18 to receive support from the service.