Discharging Someone From A&e

[237SJ]

What happens when someone gets discharged from A&E and they are vulnerable? Does the hospital have any responsibility? Last night I was in A&E after slicing through my finger with a knife. There was a SA national who clearly had mental health issues. She was brought in by a policeman and another SA national who got pretty fed up with her and left. She was going around annoying other patients and kept disappearing, prompting the staff to go looking for her. She was still there when I left at about 1am. I asked the doctor what on earth would happen to her but she said she had no idea. You can`t just turf someone out into town in the middle of the night, can you. I was just wondering as it must be a difficult situation for the staff.

[anneasquith]

SA national ?

[sherrardk]

South African maybe?

[Prudie]

South African I'd expect. Do they not call in social services? I really don't know. On US TV dramas they seem to contact the 'Psych' team in these circumstances.

[237SJ]

South Africa. She told one of the other patients she was hoping to meet Nelson Mandela some day. The guy said "You`re a bit late, love"...

[Zacs-Master]

What would you have done?

[anneasquith]

as you left and she was still at the hospital id say she would have been assessed and offered treatment , it would be her choice to accept it or not.

[237SJ]

Zacs - I would have acted within the protocols of my organisation but i don`t know what they are which is why I was asking

[237SJ]

anne - she was waiting for treatment but I wondered what would happen to her after she had received it. It looked like a minor cut to her toe so I doubt she would have been admitted.

[Peter Pedant]

erm they get booted out onto the street.
You may get a psych consult -bearing in mind that most DGH would not have on call psychiatric staff

they may get an urgent referral to a crisis unit
but then they have to turn up etc


About twenty years ago they emptied the psychiatric hospitals and laughably introduced 'care in the community' which most of us call
lack of care in the community.....

[EDDIE51]

Unless the person was so bad that they were actually dangerous rather than just a nuisance there is nothing they can do but discharge her.

[237SJ]

.."They get booted out into the street" That`s what I was worried about.

[pixie373]

They can call social services and make,sure there's a care package in place for when she gets home

[237SJ]

Pixie, I got the impression she doesn`t live here. I think she was a tourist.

[anneasquith]

no disrespect pixie, but no A&E department will be arranging care packages for patients, its for emergencies.

[EDDIE51]

Once the person has been treated the hospital will just put them out on the street, they don't have time to do anything more . They may call the police to get them out of the way but the old bill will rarely do more than tell them to move on.

[pixie373]

Oh, i see. I would like to think they would still ring social services anyway, but obviously the police were aware of the situation and the lady may have been able to give a nok contact. If she's a tourist, she's managed somehow to sort all her documents and get over here. Or, she's got someone to help her. I would be surprised if she was completely alone. Obviously, the hospital won't tell you anyway.

[237SJ]

I remember taking my Dad to A&E and there as a drunk there who insisted on accosting the doctor who was dealing with us. The staff decided that the best bet was to let him sleep it off and when I left in the early hours, he was crashed out on a trolley in a corridor. My friend who was a nurse in the hospital at the time said that if they had ejected the guy and something had happened to him, they might have been accountable. That is why I was wondering about the lady last night.

[237SJ]

Pixie - I was earwigging when she was filling out her admittance form. Her UK contact was about 50 miles away. I guess I`ll never know.

[pixie373]

No. I understand your concern. Can only hope there was someone somewhere for her!