Negligent mental health care and the mental health crisis.
In a recent news item the BBC highlighted the lack of care and resources available to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. This followed a study published by NHS England which found that one in five children and young people had a probable mental health disorder.
In the case reported by the BBC a husband experiencing a psychotic episode called his GP Practice over 500 times for help. None of his calls were answered. Sadly, his psychotic episode escalated and he went on to inflict catastrophic injuries on his wife who died as a result.
The question has to be asked, if the GP Practice had answered only one of the 500 plus calls would the outcome have been different? What are individuals supposed to do when they know their mental health is deteriorating?
The Care Quality Commission’s 2020 Community Mental Health Survey showed that more than a quarter of people said that they would not know who to contact, if they had a crisis and 17% of those who did try to make contact with the correct person or team said they did not get the help they needed. A further 2% were unable to make contact at all.
Crisis Intervention Teams are intervention only. This means they cannot prevent an episode from occurring and will not attend all mental health episodes, depending on severity and symptoms. GPs and A&E staff are expected to be the first line of defence, but are often under-equipped, understaffed and oversubscribed.
Failure of medical and psychiatric care can take many forms including:
- Understaffing
- Significant delays in referral for treatment
- Misdiagnosis
- Failure to provide a safe and secure environment
- Excessive force in detaining someone
- Prescription errors
- Failure to respond to requests for assistance or intervention
- Discharging clinical vulnerable patients that continue to pose risk to themselves or others
When the standard of services falls significantly below what can be reasonably expected the question of negligent mental health care arises, and with it, potential claims for compensation
To bring a claim for negligent mental health support you need to show that:
- The NHS failed in their duty by providing care that fell below the accepted standard; and
- That failure caused harm to you, or significantly contributed to harm suffered by you.
If you feel that your health has been significantly affected by poor or inadequate mental health treatment and you would like to consider making a compensation claim then contact our helpline and one of our specialist team will be happy to discuss your potential claim with you.