Episode 4 - Losing It: Our Mental Health Emergency
Our mental health has changed. This once taboo subject is now in the spotlight, with everyone from the Royal Princes, to school children, being prepared to talk about it. But with a rise in awareness has come a surge in people asking for help or harming themselves. Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has opened its doors to cameras to show what it means to be in crisis. This new, four part series, takes us to the heart of front line services as staff struggle to tackle an unprecedented rise in demand.
Street Triage is a blue-light rapid response emergency team, consisting of psychiatric nurse Linda and police officer Rich. In Nottinghamshire alone, the number of attempted suicides on each shift is staggering. Sometimes Linda and Rich reach a scene in time to make a difference but tragically, sometimes they can’t. Patients often plead for a bed on a psychiatric ward but they’re in short supply. And whilst admission to a ward might give respite to a family, Cerise’s mum discovers it is normally short-lived, as she has to travel thousands of miles around the UK to visit her 21-year-old daughter in secure hospitals.
