A proposal for changing practice in mental health provision in the emergency department

The role and function of the emergency department both locally and nationally is to provide care to patients and their families at a time when health has suddenly broken down. Patients often present to the department with mental health needs that require assessment, treatment and further intervention my appropriate professionals. The care of patients with mental health needs can sometimes be suboptimal calling for improvement in their care. This paper discusses what gold standard care to this group of patients looks like and suggests improvements that can be made taking into account environment, perception of service users, training and environmental factors. The work will be shared with the department allowing demonstrable improvements of care.