JERSEY’S mental health services are facing a mounting crisis – with the Island’s acute mental health unit operating over capacity, an increase in mental health crises, staffing shortages, and a sharp rise in the number of patients waiting months for therapy assessments, according to a new report.
The minutes of the latest Health Advisory Board meeting paint a worrying picture of the Island’s mental health provision.
The report revealed that the acute mental health unit is now over capacity, reaching a peak occupancy of 128% in March this year.
The document cited a surge in demand and new bed openings as contributing factors.
Staff shortages, an increase in referrals under mental health law, and “heightened police and crisis activity” were also noted in the report.
“It is of note that the service has been experiencing particularly high levels of activity and occupancy in the month,” the report said.
Meanwhile, the percentage of patients waiting over 90 days for an initial assessment by the government’s psychological therapy service has more than tripled in the past month – from 3.6% to 11.6%.
The average wait time for Jersey Talking Therapies treatment has now hit 184 days, and 77% of patients have waited more than 18 weeks to begin therapy.
“This will be reviewed by the responsible service manager,” according to the minutes.
A review of the cases referred to the crisis team has also been launched after the four-hour target for face-to-face crisis assessments was missed in April – at 83.6% against a goal of 85%.
Concerns have also been raised about poor follow-up care after discharge, particularly for older adults and working-age patients, prompting further scrutiny from mental health leadership teams.
The report concluded: “The primary issues within mental health services are the waiting times for assessment, which are largely attributed to staffing shortages.
“There is also staff turnover in the autism service, which may impact service delivery.”
The mental health department also reported a £200,000 overspend on agency staff during the first four months of this year due to over-capacity wards and delays in hiring permanent psychiatrists forcing continued reliance on costly temporary cover.
In a statement, the director of mental health, community services and social care, Andy Weir, highlighted the importance of examining changes in reported activity against key performance indicators (KPIs).
He said: “The increase in waiting times for JTT is being reviewed currently by the service manager.
“As discussed in the Board, the follow-up on discharge relates to a small number of people – so the one person who was not followed up in older adult services accounts for the 25% not achieved against the KPI.”
He continued: “The review of cases in the crisis team isn’t a result of the target performance in month (which is still comparatively good) – it is to understand the cases when the team decide that an assessment is not necessary, to ensure that we are getting that right.”
Mr Weir claimed that, overall, mental health services were “performing well against their targets” and that “significant progress” was still being made in a number of areas – despite an increase in demand and activity in the early months of this year.
“Clearly the main concerns are the ongoing challenges with waiting times for specialist (not crisis or routine) assessment – such as ADHD and autism,” he added.
Commenting on police involvement in crisis episodes, Chief Inspector Craig Jackson noted that the Article 36 suite at Clinique Pinel – which offers a “place of safety” for patients detained under Jersey’s mental health law – had opened last year.
He said: “We have not seen a decrease in Article 36 detentions compared to the same period last year, in fact we are about the same on 28 detentions.
“However, where we have seen a benefit for all services, including the service user, is the length of time that police are involved in the detention.”
He explained: “Last year we were, on average, involved for 6.5 hours. With the introduction of the Article 36 suite and good protocols, the length of time that police are involved has reduced significantly to 5 hours.
“This means that the service user is getting the right help, by the right agency more speedily.”
- Do you want to share an experience with the mental health services? To arrange to speak to a reporter, which can be done in confidence, email news@jerseyeveningpost.com.
