SCOTTISH HOSPITAL NEWS


GROUND-BREAKING HOSPITAL PILOT DESIGNED TO REDUCE DISTRESS LEVELS


The Minister for Mental Health, Maureen Watt, recently visited University Hospital Hairmyres to hear about a ground-breaking pilot project which is reducing levels of distress.


The Distress Brief Intervention Programme (DBI) is the fi rst programme of its kind in the world which provides a time-limited and supportive problem solving contact with an individual who presents at emergency services in a state of distress.


While still in its early stages, DBI has more than halved recorded levels of distress among those who have taken up the offer of the DBI support.


Many who present at emergency services often describe feelings of low mood, stress and anxiety and the two-level DBI approach sees front line emergency staff offer a compassionate response to the individual and ask if they would like to be contacted by a level two service within 24 hours to offer further face-to-face support.


Ultimately it aims to enable people to manage their immediate and future distress more effectively.


‘We’re delighted with the fi ndings from this pilot so far,’ said Dr Linda Findlay, Lanarkshire lead for the DBI pilot. ‘One hundred per cent of those referred for support were contacted within 24 hours, with almost 70 per cent of the people who received the level one support, taking up the offer of the level two support.


‘Of those, 85 per cent successfully completed the programme with a fi nalised distress management plan agreed.


‘We also asked people to rate


their distress level when they came in – with ten being high and zero low – and it averaged at seven. On completion, the average had more than halved to three.’


‘People can often present at the emergency department with an emotional pain which does not require a further emergency service response,’ added Lise Axford, senior charge nurse at University Hospital Hairmyres emergency department. ‘It can be caused by factors such as relationship issues, loneliness, housing or fi nancial worries, substance misuse and a general struggle to cope with life’s challenges.


‘Evidence shows these situations don’t always require specialist clinical mental health services, but they do need person-centred, practical support, quickly. DBI now addresses this gap and while staff can and still do refer individuals who require specialist mental health and addiction services, they now also have this additional more appropriate option available to them for those who need it.


‘The programme has also been very well received by the staff involved – who have all received DBI training developed by the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Health & Wellbeing – as they now feel they can refer people to more appropriate support.’


The pilot programme is being funded by the Scottish Government and will run initially until March 2021 and will be independently evaluated thereafter.


As well as emergency departments, the DBI approach will also be tested by frontline Police Scotland, Scottish


Pictured (l-r): Helen Macleod, staff nurse emergency department (ED) University Hospital Hairmyres (UHH); Lise Axford, senior nurse ED UHH; Mental Health Minister Maureen Watt; Rachel Lees, charge nurse ED UHH and Inspector Julie Robertson, Police Scotland Safer Communities Harm Prevention, Mental Health.


Ambulance Services and primary care, including out of hours, staff.


‘The DBI programme has seen really impressive levels of joint working across front-line services,’ said Kevin O’Neill national DBI programme manager, ‘with the shared goal of developing connected,


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compassionate support for people presenting in distress.


‘The learning from the control testing in Lanarkshire is now supporting DBI to be implemented in the other three partnership test sites in Aberdeen, Inverness and Scottish Borders over the coming months.’


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