Crisis services in the Country Durham and Darlington area commenced in May 2014. The Crisis and Liaison Service is part of the children and young people’s service in Durham and Darlington but is located within the mental health hospital alongside the adult crisis and liaison team and the approved mental health professional team. The service aims to provide an initial assessment appointment within one hour of a referral being received; a comprehensive mental health/risk assessment is completed subsequently
Co-Production
From start: No
During process: No
In evaluation: Yes
Evaluation
Peer: No
Academic: Yes
PP Collaborative: No
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Clare Anderson, Clinical Nurse Specialist
County Durham and Darlington
Crisis services in the Country Durham and Darlington area commenced in May 2014. The Crisis and Liaison Service is part of the children and young people’s service in Durham and Darlington but is located within the mental health hospital alongside the adult crisis and liaison team and the approved mental health professional team. The service aims to provide an initial assessment appointment within one hour of a referral being received; a comprehensive mental health/risk assessment is completed subsequently. Intensive support is provided within the home or in an appropriate setting for up to 72 hours post-assessment, or until the individual’s risks are contained or they are transferred to another service.
Operating hours
8am-10pm, 7 days a week
Age range
Up to 18 years
Geographical area covered
Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield, and North Durham Commissioning Groups, and County Durham and Darlington Borough Council Areas. Services are also provided in EDs and police stations in Darlington.
Approximate size of 0-18 population
126,632
Referrals received per year (April 15 – March 16)
639
No. referrals seen per year (April 15 – March 16)
608
% referrals 9am-5pm
82.6%
% referrals 5pm-10pm
17.4%
Response time
Average current response time (for face-to-face assessment) from referral to start of assessment: 1 hour 20 minutes.
Impact of service on admission rates
From a total of 1176 assessments conducted by the crisis team, 711 were assessed within County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust sites of Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital North Durham.
Of these, 50% (356) were assessed on paediatric wards – this was due to admission to hospital outside crisis team working hours or because the person was not able to be assessed in the ED due to medical needs (24-hour service would reduce bed use further).
The remaining 50% (355) were assessed in the ED. Of the 355 assessed in the ED by the crisis team, 54 young people were subsequently admitted to a ward.
Between 21 May 2014 and 29 February 2016, the crisis team was able to free up 301 overnight beds that would otherwise have been used while children or young people waited for a duty mental health assessment the following day.
Workforce
1 WTE band 7 nurse
6 WTE band 6 nurses
1 WTE band 4 team secretary
+ Access to duty psychiatrist based in the children and young people’s mental health service (9am-5pm) or the out-of-hours on-call consultant psychiatrist.
Service model
Within children and young people’s service; co-located with adult crisis services
