This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Mental health patients discharged at start of lockdown causes concern
Close to 2,500 patients were discharged from mental health units across England at the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown, prompting concern that vulnerable people were released into the community before they were ready.
Official data analysed by the mental health charity Mind shows that 11,829 patients were discharged from mental health units in March 2020, a rise from 9,836 last year and an increase of 2,441 from the February before lockdown started. The number of discharges fell back to 8,426 in April.
Alison Cobb, specialist policy adviser at Mind, said: “NHS data shows that in March mental health trusts across the country followed guidance to discharge as many people as possible to clear space for Covid-19 patients, including patients detained under the Mental Health Act and those on acute wards.
“While rates of people being discharged slowed in April, we remain concerned about the impact on people who were receiving hospital treatment for their mental health who were sent home. This is particularly worrying in situations where community teams were affected by sickness and redeployment and were having to adapt the support they could offer.”
Reports claim that one of the patients released early was a man with severe mental health problems who was now missing in Spain.
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