Our Janet Youd addressed the RCN Congress in Liverpool this week – and in verse too -  to  call for better emergency care for people with mental health problems.

Her poem is written through the eyes of a patient with mental health problems having  been brought in by the police and having to wait in an A&E. It highlights all their inner turmoil and thoughts and ends with a plea for more money to improve services for them.

Janet, Chair of the RCN Emergency Care Association, was highlighting  the differences in care around the country and calling for a better system  to deliver better care. There are regional differences in Scotland and N Ireland and difference in care pathways even amongst areas of England.

At CHFT we have an amazing Mental Health Liaison Team and The Dales unit for patients detained under the Mental Health Act, where the patients can be cared for, but other areas have no alternative than for patients with  mental health issues to join the waiting room in their busy Emergency Departments.

You can watch Janet delivering her poem here and read it on the attachment

It ends with the plea: 

So people with power please work together

Or this situation will last forever

Then if it happens to you, as it happened to me

There’ll be somewhere better than A&E

More information about the event: https://www.rcn.org.uk/congress/agenda/designated-places-of-safety