"Go to A&E" says Crisis Team

On the phone the Crisis Team told us that if J became more suicidal to ring an ambulance and go to A&E in order to be assessed by someone (maybe from their team, we’re not sure). It was a hectic Saturday night. Waiting for hours in A&E with the bloodied drunks and injured doesn’t seem right, especially when we were already open to the Crisis Team. Using an ambulance didn’t seem right (we ended up traveling in the paramedic’s car to free up the ambulance, but this had it’s own problems) When we entered Accident & Emergency someone was screaming and as always the paramedics were queuing with trolleys just to admit patients (this is well before any type of assessment or treatment, this is just the handing over part). I just don’t understand any more. J kept trying to leave, to the point that we needed security. After some time in EDU, we get seen by a doctor who says that there are beds locally, but he promises to try to get J a bed at a later date on her preferred ward. We return home a taxi at about 7am. At some point in the evening a security guard disclosed to us that there is a special building adjoining the hospital, with a “place of safety”, i.e. secure doors, no ligature points. This had recently been built by the Partnership Trust, but hospital staff were not allowed to use it because no-one would pay for their training. Apparently, at best, this special mental health related building is used as an office. Also, interestingly, both the paramedics and security guards were frustrated with the local Crisis Teams, and were extremely sympathetic regarding our past problems. There has to be a different system to this. On the plus side, the Crisis Team have told J that she is a priority case and they will be ringing wards daily to get her a bed. She is currently at home.