NHS Ayrshire & Arran has officially opened a new, nurse-led Mental Health Unscheduled Care Assessment Hub. Recognised as the first of its kind in Scotland, the hub aims to deliver a new model of care.
The Mental Health Unscheduled Care Assessment Hub, based at Woodland View in Irvine, provides a patient-focused, therapeutic space to support the delivery of compassionate care to those individuals with acute mental illness who would be eligible to access an adult acute mental health bed for ongoing intensive assessment.
Managed and coordinated by the Mental Health Unscheduled Care Service, the hub provides 24-hour access to mental health assessment and interventions. The service is delivered by experienced Registered Mental Health Nurses within a therapeutic environment for a period of up to 72 hours, and will be able to accommodate up to five patients.
North Ayrshire Health & Social Care Director, Caroline Cameron explained, “We are delighted to be able to officially open this new service.
“We piloted the hub earlier this year for a small number of patients. We are now ready to open at full capacity and provide those living in Ayrshire and who are experiencing acute mental illness with this new way of working.”
The hub aims to:
- improve the patient journey through the Mental Health Unscheduled Care Service;
- facilitate closer working and a smoother patient journey between community and inpatient services;
- reduce the number of unscheduled admissions to acute adult inpatient mental health beds;
- reduce the waiting time for planned adult acute admissions;
- reduce the number of initial assessments carried out in acute wards releasing resource for treatment;
- provide training opportunities in assessment of mental illness for clinical staff.
Thelma Bowers, Head of Mental Health, Addictions & Learning Disabilities added, “The Mental Health Unscheduled Care Assessment Hub is one of the ways we are aiming to transform our approach to how those living in Ayrshire can access and receive mental health care and to improve the patient journey through mental health unscheduled care services.