Campaign for mandatory mental health home visits

A woman has called for mandatory medical home visits for people with severe mental health issues and who are unable to leave their homes.

Abbey Wright believes a mental health visit would have helped her father, Phil, who suffered from severe depression and could not leave his house. He took his own life in April at the age of 62.

"He just started slowly becoming more of a shell... really vacant in the head... like a lost little boy," said Abbey, of Swadlincote in Derbyshire.

Phil's GP practice, Gresleydale Healthcare Centre, said its policy includes home visits and each case is assessed on an "individual basis".

Abbey said her dad was the "life and soul of the party" and that "everyone gravitated towards him".

However, she noticed a change once he stopped working as he did not like to leave the house, work in the garden, or go to the pub.

He was even "overwhelmed" by the people around him, including when Abbey visited with his grandchildren, she said.

"I was concerned but I found it a bit draining as well because I didn't know what to do or what to say to make him feel better," she added.

Abbey believes early intervention is key and that a visit to the house from a medical professional would have helped.

She has called for home visits to be made mandatory when someone shows signs of mental ill health or are not willing to leave their home for a GP appointment.

"If someone had come into the home, and they could have seen how dad was, his body language... he could barely speak, he could barely make eye contact.

"You would know he was not mentally well and something could have been put in place to help him," she said.

Reena Sharma, director of Clear Mind Derby, said home visits can offer a "sense of safety" for the patient but also allows professionals to "see the whole picture" of what is happening in an individual's life.

"It's also quite a tailored response to somebody's needs at that moment in time and it's quite a human approach," she said.

She added: "Sometimes it can be too clinical, there might be a number of people sitting in the waiting room.

"We're talking about people that suffer with severe anxiety, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, that type of thing that would find it extremely difficult to go into a new environment."

Abbey said the reaction to her campaign had been "overwhelming".

The 30-year-old hosted an event on 29 June for people to come together, share and document their experiences, with the aim of sending this to South Derbyshire Labour MP Samantha Niblett.

A spokesperson for Gresleydale Healthcare Centre in Church Gresley said practice policy did include home visits for those unable to leave their home and cases were assessed on an "individual basis".

The practice is to review processes to see if things could have been done differently or if future changes are needed and a "learn from patient safety event has been undertaken".

The spokesperson added: "Our heartfelt sympathies are with everyone who has been affected by suicide.

"We would encourage anyone who needs help for a mental health crisis or emergency to call NHS 111, where they can access immediate expert advice and assessment."

An NHS England spokesperson said: "The NHS is continuing to take action to strengthen and improve services for those living with a severe mental illness, but we know there is more to do.

"Every area in England now has new crisis resolution and home treatment teams in place to provide rapid support, including face-to-face care and home visits where clinically appropriate, to ensure people experiencing severe mental health issues can access care in the right setting for their needs."

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