Bed Crisis

This has caused a line of issues including one being adding more pressure to the ‘Bed Crisis’. In 1955 there was 15,000 beds available for service, in 2012, a re-evaluation was done and beds have dropped at least 40% being about 22,300 beds available across the United Kingdom. Before the cuts, over the past 10 to 15 year’s of questions have been raised repeatedly about whether a minimum safe level of beds was reached (Bhugra 2013; cited through the kings fund 2015). When beds become unavailable to a patient, they usually get transferred to a facility outside their area, most likely to a private hospital. An Experimental research developed by the care quality commission and health and social care information centre discovering that in the years between 2012 and 2013, 4.4 percent and 4.9 percent were found to have been admitted to out of area from their homes (Care Quality Commission, 2015). Supporting this research
were a group of researchers from The Freedom of Information (FOI) found that amongst the 37 NHS Mental health institutions, a total of 4,447 patients were sent away far from their homes and families in the year of 2014 to 2015, which was found to be 23.1 percent higher than the previous years (McNicoll, 2015). Private homes have also had a 30 percent increase of NHS patients since 2011 and the Royal College of Psychiatrists have found that theirwards have become overcrowded and understaffed, with a 15 per cent of wards lacking segregated sleeping accommodation and fewer than 60 per cent having separate lounges for men and women (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2011, 2014c; McNicoll 2013b).
Due to high number of patients being moved away far from their homes and families, it has had an impact on the patients negatively, as stated by The National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (2015a). They have also gone on to find that there has been an increase of patient suicide associating with this issue. An investigation done by Community Care and BBC News has found that there were at least 8 people who have killed themselves since the budget cuts in the years 2014/15. Other methods that the NHS have considered was “home treatment teams”, however, that idea was dismissed as there wouldn’t be enough funds going into and also that it has been deemed “simply insufficient” to meet the service user’s needs . Community care reporters went onto finding that the government see it as “not offering a realistic alternative to admission” or “offer ‘home treatment’ in any meaningful sense”. A report conducted by the Care Quality Commission on the mental health act (Care Quality Commission, 2016) found that the patients feel they need more support in their care planning and also understanding here rights and treatment decisions.

A cross-sectional study conducted by Shepherd, Beadmore, Moore, Hardy and Muijen (1996) looking to examine the relationship between social deprivation and overall bed availability in acute psychiatric units.
The study also focused on a range of ways to see other options that can help wards and residential homes. After the results were analysed, it has showed that nationally there was a relationship between the two variables; social deprivation and bed availability. Shepherd, Beadmore, Moore, Hardy and Muijen (1996) suggested in their study that to ensure that patients who rightfully need to be sectioned into a psychiatric ward , that those who are staying longer than usual would be supervised and monitored more closely and they believe that to help the bed crisis, a spectrum of care which focuses on different levels of needs and different kinds of issues for example although these issues cannot be solved overnight, however with good community services means refocusing teams, retraining staff, and reorganising the service to provide access out of
hours.