Southern Health Foundation Trust
NHS / Health Body
Noted
Southern Health Foundation Trust acknowledges the coroner's concern but states that checking every patient attending the Emergency Departments for physical health conditions for mental illness is not practical and that mental health liaison teams are in place in Emergency Departments to notify the appropriate mental health team if needed. (AI summary)
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Dear Mr Walker,
Regulation 28: Report to Prevent Future Deaths arising from the Investigation and Inquest relating to Ethel Mitchell Robertson – 20thOctober, 2025
The concern you raise is that if an elderly person attends an Emergency Department for non mental health issues, then that information is not necessarily available to the Older People’s Mental Health Service.
The main issue is not that the services operate on different computer systems, but rather the raising of a flag for the professionals in the Older People’s Mental Health team.
In each of the Emergency Departments across Hampshire, there are effective Mental Health Liaison Teams, each of which works with the Emergency Department. When an adult, of any age, demonstrates signs of mental ill health when in the Emergency Department, the liaison teams are in a position to notify the Community Mental Health Team, or the Older Person’s Mental Health Team.
However, to check every patient attending the Emergency Departments for physical health conditions as to whether or not they also have a mental illness is not practical. Some people with mental illness also have objections to their mental health records being shared more widely. Even with connected computer systems, the additional workload of checking every patient to establish whether they have mental health issues is disproportionate to the small number of cases where the mental health conditions are not evident to the clinicians in the Emergency Department.
If you would find a discussion helpful, I would be very happy to arrange.
Regulation 28: Report to Prevent Future Deaths arising from the Investigation and Inquest relating to Ethel Mitchell Robertson – 20thOctober, 2025
The concern you raise is that if an elderly person attends an Emergency Department for non mental health issues, then that information is not necessarily available to the Older People’s Mental Health Service.
The main issue is not that the services operate on different computer systems, but rather the raising of a flag for the professionals in the Older People’s Mental Health team.
In each of the Emergency Departments across Hampshire, there are effective Mental Health Liaison Teams, each of which works with the Emergency Department. When an adult, of any age, demonstrates signs of mental ill health when in the Emergency Department, the liaison teams are in a position to notify the Community Mental Health Team, or the Older Person’s Mental Health Team.
However, to check every patient attending the Emergency Departments for physical health conditions as to whether or not they also have a mental illness is not practical. Some people with mental illness also have objections to their mental health records being shared more widely. Even with connected computer systems, the additional workload of checking every patient to establish whether they have mental health issues is disproportionate to the small number of cases where the mental health conditions are not evident to the clinicians in the Emergency Department.
If you would find a discussion helpful, I would be very happy to arrange.