Overview of the service
The Urgent Support Team offers a mental health assessment to young people who are experiencing difficulties with their mental health or safety. We see people in Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments, on hospital wards or in one of our bases. We provide mental health advice to our colleagues in hospitals (such as A&E departments or children’s wards), to improve young people’s experiences of accessing health services.
We give advice and aim to instill hope, often at a point of personal crisis. We then signpost the young people we see or refer them on to appropriate community services, for follow-up.
We are also able provide short-term, intensive treatment for children and young people in mental health crisis, if required. This would involve either:
- Crisis resolution / brief intervention for two weeks
- Intensive home treatment for six weeks
Who is the service for?
The Urgent Support Team offers a mental health assessment and brief intervention to young people up to the age of 16 who are experiencing mental health crisis. We also offer seven-day follow-up contacts after someone has been assessed by liaison psychiatry for young people aged between 16 and 18.
How to access the service
You will have been referred to us by an acute hospital after you have been to the A&E department due to experiencing difficulties with your mental health of safety. We may also arrange to see you as an alternative to attending A&E if you phone our mental health crisis line.
What we do
We will see you when you are able to take part in a conversation. We intend to see people on the day of the referral from the Emergency Department or hospital ward. This can be affected by demand and capacity at the time.
Once an assessment has been completed and you have left hospital, we will offer you a follow-up appointment within seven days. This appointment will be to review risk and how things have been. This includes young people who have been assessed by liaison psychiatry who are between 16 and 18 years of age.
We can:
- Provide mental health support and advice
- Signpost or refer you to the most appropriate service or organisation
- Help you with safety planning
- Provide short term intervention
- Provide home based treatment to keep you safe
What are not able to:
- Provide long-term mental health support. Community-based 0-18 Children and Young People’s Mental Health Services (CYPMHS) can provide this
- Provide support around social care issues. You will need to speak to your allocated social worker if you have one, or access your local Early Help service via your local authority
- Prescribe medication or provide a mental health diagnosis
Contact us
As the Urgent Support Team covers multiple areas, we operate from a number of bases. You can contact your local team using the details below:
Chester and surrounding area (covering Countess of Chester A&E Hospital)
Tel: 0151 488 8345
Wirral and surrounding area (covering Arrowe Park Hospital)
Tel: 0151 488 8033
Central and East Cheshire and surrounding area (covering Leighton Hospital and Macclesfield General Hospital)
Tel: 01270 656 360