From: "Mary Hawking" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2004 7:54 PM
.
>
> This is already a serious problem - but I think there are various
> provisions for emergency detention for mental health reasons available
> to the police and others.
>
> Does anyone know whether the problems of OOH emergencies where previous
> knowledge of the patient is essential will be handled?
>
> There *are* a significant number of practices without any computer
> system, a larger number without an RFA99+ compatible system.. And , in
> any case, how much help would *your* paperless record help in
> establishing whether the individual was "a risk to themselves or others"
> ?
>
> I have some concerns about whether the NHS CR will help - at least,
> whether any help will be supported by the European Court! ;->>>>
>
> Has the problem been recognised or addressed at the highest levels? Fay?
I don't think so. The DoH had an OOH mental health group a couple of years
ago which worked in parallel to David Carson's OOH national advisory group.
However I don't know what happened to it though I was supposed to be on it
and now the OOH national advisory group seems to have been postponed
indefinitely.
IMHO OOH sections should be done by doctors accredited to do it and not by
generalists whether they happen to know the patient personally or not. There
is not only the skilled assessment of the mental state, there is the risk
assessment and the human rights legislation too. In this day and age,
depriving a citizen of his liberty and forcibly treating him is a very
serious matter and should be dealt with as seriously as (say) repairing a
hernia. We should not underrate psychiatry just because there is not a lot
of complicated kit.
--
Fay
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