Digest

Mental ill health increases emergency care use People with mental ill health are not having their care well managed, according to a report by QualityWatch ( www.qualitywatch.org.uk ), a research programme developed by the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation. Focus on: People with mental ill health and hospital use used hospital episode statistics to analyse the utilisation of emergency care in 2013/14 by people with mental ill health. Compared with individuals without mental ill health, the rate of emergency admissions was three times greater and there were five times more emergency admissions. However, only one‐fifth of emergency inpatient activity was directly mental health. Preventable emergency admissions were 3.6 times more common and, for common inpatient procedures, emergency admission was more frequent, hospital stay was longer and overnight admission more likely. Deprivation was a factor within the mentally ill population: those who were most deprived visited A&E 1.8 times more frequently and had 1.5 times more emergency inpatient admissions than the least deprived. The report concludes ‘there are opportunities for planned care (inside and outside of the hospital) to do more. These people are well known to the healthcare system and are having many health encounters. All of these encounters represent opportunities to identify and support their physical health needs.’