While previous study indicated that mentally ill individuals in England are five times more likely to require emergency assistance in hospital admissions, findings determined that only 20% of these admissions are likely to be explicitly related to mental issues.
Analysing over 100 million hospital records between the period of 2009-2010 and 2013-2014 of individuals with mental health problems and of individuals without mental health problems, the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation determined that most of these admissions are in fact only related to physical ailments. Instead of requirement for emergency attention to either a mental or psychological condition, these mental health patients are more often admitted as emergency cases for treatment of routine physical problems.
As the BBC reports, the study ascertained a significant 628 emergency admissions for every 1,000 individuals suffering from mental health disorders, whereas only 129 admissions were linked to those without mental health problems. Visits to the A&E wards are thrice the number with over 1,300 consultations and admissions for every 1,000 individuals who have mental health disorders.
These numbers invariably direct attention to the limitations in the quality of service and care readily provided to mental health patients. Research findings suggest that mental health conditions are far too often treated in isolation by the National Health Service (NHS). Consequently physical conditions may not be given the required attention.
Holly Dorning, author of the report, succinctly summarises the concern, "It is striking that people with mental ill health use so much more emergency care than those without and that so much of this isn't directly related to their mental health needs.
"This raises serious questions about how well their other health concerns are being managed.
"It is clear that if we continue to treat mental health in isolation, we will miss essential care needs for these patients."
