Our Oldham liaison mental health service has brought together and strengthened our three assessment teams: older people’s, alcohol, and accident and emergency.
The young people’s element is new and will launch soon.
We provide care and support to people of all ages (young people and adults) who attend accident and emergency, or have been admitted to a ward, and who have:
- A mental health issue
- Drug or alcohol issues
- Dementia
Our aim is to make sure people can get the right support, from the right professional as quickly as possible.
This will help to:
- Improve patients’ overall experience
- Reduce the likelihood of their problems becoming worse
- Increase their chances of making a full recovery
- Reduce pressure on accident and emergency staff
- Reduce pressure on ward staff
Our team is made up of lots of different mental health professionals including a consultant psychiatrist, advanced practitioners, nurses and support workers.
We have recruited lots of extra staff, so we can support more people.
Our service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
We accept referrals from staff working within accident and emergency and from every ward at The Royal Oldham Hospital. Previously we could only accept referrals from some wards, so this is a big improvement.
We aim to see patients referred to us in crisis from accident and emergency within one hour (i.e. people with an urgent need).
We aim to respond to referrals for patients on a ward within 24 hours (i.e. people with less urgent needs).
We will assess them and develop a package of care that meets their needs.
We also provide training and education to our hospital colleagues, so we can all work together to effectively support people.
If you a family member of a patient and have a question, please speak to a member of staff on the ward.