Mental-health-related admissions to the acute medical unit during COVID-19

Abstract

During COVID-19 there has been increased pressure on mental health services internationally. In this report, we compare admissions to one acute medical unit (AMU) for patients with mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic (April, May and June 2020) to the same period of time in 2019. We found an increase in this cohort of patients in 2020, both as an absolute number and as a proportion of the medical take. We outline some strategies which we have adopted locally to improve care for this patient group.