Brand New Mental Health Service for North Essex

EPUT’s brand new and innovative service for people in north Essex with mental health problems will be launched by Sally Morris, Trust Chief Executive, on Thursday 26 July 2018. The Peter Bruff mental health assessment unit is based in Colchester and will transform the way local adults who need acute mental health care are assessed and treated.

The Trust’s new assessment unit provides a suitable environment for clinicians to carry out comprehensive psychiatric assessments over a period of up to 72 hours. Patients may stay on the unit for a maximum of seven days. The unit’s multi-disciplinary team work closely with the Trust’s home treatment teams to facilitate patients’ transfer back home wherever possible. But, if necessary, patients may also be admitted to a treatment ward, or kept on the assessment unit (for up to the maximum number of days) while any issues such as suitable accommodation or non-mental health community care are arranged prior to their discharge.

Older adults with dementia, who are likely to be particularly frail, will be admitted straight to an older adult treatment ward rather than the assessment unit. Patients who are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 will be admitted directly to a treatment ward and those who are detained while they are on the assessment unit will be transferred as quickly as possible.

Sally Morris, Chief Executive at EPUT said: “This is an exciting development and is a key part of the newly-merged Trust’s determination to transform the care we provide for local people. The new assessment unit will mean more people can be assessed and cared for closer to their homes. It will also improve patients’ experience of our care and strengthen our response to people when they have a mental health crisis”.