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STRUGGLE: Three of Leeds’ key mental health crisis service providers have received mostly negative feedback

THREE key mental health crisis service providers in Leeds have been given mostly negative feedback by users, a new survey shows according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Healthwatch Leeds asked people “what it is like to have a mental health crisis in Leeds” in a new report.

Almost 60 percent of comments about the Leeds Crisis Service (Single Point of Access), Acute Liaison Psychiatry (ALPs) and A&E were negative.

Many people said that the busy and clinical environment in A&E was very distressing and others didn’t feel it was equipped to deal with mental health issues and were more concerned with physical health.
COMMENTS

Many comments about the Crisis Service mentioned long waiting times for the service to call back after the initial phone call, with some waiting several hours for a call back.

One person said: “My friend, who I support, rang the Crisis team; was promised a call back however this never happened.

“We got a text message nine hours after our initial call, which by this point we were at A&E as my friend had overdosed.”

There were positive comments about somebody from the service being able to come out and see them, staff being supportive, and the right referrals being made.
The survey of almost 700 people also found that 47 per cent of people did not know where to go to get help when this was the first experience.

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