Letter from Manchester A typology of crisis services for mental health

Abstract

Mental health service provision in the event of a crisis requires us to address the type of crisis, the type of help needed and the type of person we are trying to provide the help for. Careful attention should be paid to the numbers of people who present themselves in a crisis and consideration given to whether we can better organise and coordinate our existing services to meet their needs. We need to do something about the immense variation in the provision of social assessment and care, given that most crises involve a complex mixture of health and social factors. A typology of crisis services is offered which may help health and social care purchasers and providers to make more appropriate arrangements for responses to mental health crises.