Local A&E department gets crisis support | Healthwatch Northyorkshire

Sign up to our mailing list (Mailchimp)

Sign up for news alerts 

Stay up to date with what people are telling us about health and social care, our advice and information, and latest reports. 

Sign up

Local A&E department gets crisis support

News - 25 January 2021

A local charity, Scarborough Survivors, has been working with the Trust to provide crisis support to people attending Scarborough General Hospital’s accident and emergency (A&E) department who may be struggling with their mental health.
picture of ambulance

The Trust are working with Scarborough Survivors to support workers during peak times to help relieve winter pressures on A&E staff and offer support to anyone identified as presenting with a mental health or suspected mental health condition. They will also offer support to any person who is alone in the department and identified as vulnerable.

Service Manager for Scarborough Acute Hospital Liaison Service at the Trust, said: “The support workers from Scarborough Survivors have well established relationships with our crisis team, which will help improve communication between A&E and mental health services and strengthen the multi-agency approach to mental health care in the area.”

Andrea Woolcott, CEO at Scarborough Survivors, said: “We are very proud to be supporting our acute hospital colleagues in Scarborough throughout what is undoubtedly an extremely busy time for the NHS.

“Our dedicated staff team are greeting people as they enter and offering the time and space for people to talk and be listened to. This will support both patients and staff so that we can improve the experience of those in crisis that come through the doors of A&E.

Whilst we won’t be clinically assessing or triaging patients, we will be able to speak with them and collect important information that will not only free up the time of clinical accident and emergency staff, but also aid them when it comes to next steps and assessments.

Andrea Woolcot

Dr Ed Smith, Care Group Director and ED Consultant at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The Scarborough Survivors support workers that have been working within the Emergency Department (ED) at Scarborough Hospital, have been a hugely valuable addition to the ED team.

“They provide a much needed function with respect to spending time with patients, particularly when the nursing team is under significant pressure. This has been welcomed by staff and patients alike and their expertise, dedication and commitment has already made a big difference to the service that we are able to offer within the ED.”

Scarborough Survivors will continue with follow up support both in the community and as part of a telephone service, in the hope that it will reduce reattendance in the future.

Scarborough Survivors is a service user led charity with 25 years’ experience helping and supporting people with their mental health.

Find out more at https://scarboroughsurvivors.org.uk

You might also be interested in

Where can I go to get help for my health out of hours?

People are often in need of out-of-hours medical assistance. Using NHS guidelines, we have provided some advice and information on where you can go for help when your GP is closed.
Advice and Information
picture of ambulance

Think you need to go to A&E? Call NHS 111 first

The NHS wants to make it easier and safer for patients to get the right treatment when they need it, without waiting a long time to be seen in A&E.
Advice and Information