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Chapter 21 - Management of the Mental Health Emergency in the Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2024

By
Mathew Page  and
Matthew Truscott
Edited by
Roland Dix ,
Stephen Dye  and
Stephen M. Pereira
Roland Dix
Affiliation:
Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucester
Stephen Dye
Affiliation:
Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust, Ipswich
Stephen M. Pereira
Affiliation:
Keats House, London
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Summary

Management of the mental health emergency in the community is an emerging specialism in the United Kingdom. It works at the complex interface between the police and ambulance services and mental health system. This chapter provides an account of specialist psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) experience with the associated skills and knowledge from the inpatient setting for intervening as early as possible in mental health emergencies. By offering solutions which ensure the right help is available as soon as possible, it has been found that the need for more restrictive interventions can be avoided; mental health care being consistent with other branches of clinical services in upholding the maxim that ‘prevention is better than cure’.

Keywords

psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU)health-based place of safety (HBPoS)policeambulancemental health emergency
Type
Chapter
Information
Psychiatric Intensive Care , pp. 268 - 278
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

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