Rise in mental health patients being sent away

Thepracticeofsendingmental health patients far away from friends and family to receive care has become endemic in the NHS, leading doctors warned as new figures show a rise in the number of patients sent miles away.

In recent years one patient from Somerset was sent to a care facility in the Highlands, 587 miles distant, the union found.

Ministers have pledged to eliminate “inappropriate out-of-area placements” for mental health patients by 2020/21, but new BMA figures show a rise in patients being sent out of area for treatment.

Medics said being sent far away for care can hamper care and recovery.

It means that patients can often be far away from their support network – with BMA chairman of council Dr Mark Porter describing how parents of a young man travelled for seven hours just to spend an hour with their son.

The union made Freedom of Information requests on clinical commissioning groups in England to discover the number of mental health patients that has been sent out of area for care for the three years from 2014/15.

It found that the number of out-of-area placements increased from 4,213 in 2014/15 to 5,876 adults in 2016/17 – a rise of 39 per cent.

BMA said friends and family could expect an average round-trip drive of up to seven and a half hours to see loved ones receiving care far away from home.