University Policy:
Students and Staff with Urgent and/or Severe Mental Health Problems
If you (as a member of staff) suspect that a student is experiencing an urgent mental health problem you should approach that student and attempt to discuss the situation with them. The aim of this interview is to attempt to elicit whether or not the person is deemed to be:
- at immediate risk, either to him/herself or to others or
- in fairly urgent need of intervention but not at immediate risk to him/herself
This then informs the subsequent actions that should be taken:
A. If the student is deemed to be at immediate risk to self or others:
- If the student is content to stay in that location and accept some kind of intervention, you should contact his/her own GP, inform them of the students name, date of birth, presentation and nature of your concerns. The urgency of their need must be clearly communicated.
If their own GP is unavailable, you should insist that you speak with the designated on call GP for the practice.
If the student is not registered with a GP, unable/unwilling to disclose this information or it is outwith office hours, call NHS 24 on 08454 24 24 24. If all else fails, call an ambulance to take the student to A & E where an assessment of their mental state will be carried out.
Or
- If the student has no insight into their problems or is refusing to co-operate with any interventions (such as seeing a doctor)
and ultimately leaves the premises, the respondent should notify the police of their concerns immediately giving a description of the student, their clothing and where and when they were last seen. Alternatively, if he/she becomes overtly harmful to themselves or others
on site the police should be called to the premises. Care should be taken by the reporting person to ensure that only information which is absolutely necessary should be disclosed to the police.
B. If the student is deemed not to be an immediate risk to self or others:
- If you believe that the student has very urgent problems but is not an immediate risk to themselves or others,
you should inform them that you will contact the University Health Service (ext. 84168) to make an urgent referral.
If neither the medical adviser nor the mental health nurse is immediately available you will be advised when they are
next on duty (the main switchboard also has this information.)
- If it is felt that the student's problems cannot wait until said staff are next available, you should contact the
student's own GP to inform them of your concerns. They should be able to advise you of how to make an urgent appointment
at the surgery for the student. The referrer should subsequently inform the University Health Service that they have taken
this course of action in order that a decision can be made on any further interventions required and so that details may be
recorded (if no contact available at the University Health Service and the client is not registered with a local GP, you
should telephone NHS 24 for further assistance on 08454 24 24 24).
- You may negotiate with the student that he/she carries out agreed referral himself/herself. If so, it is essential that you check with him/her that this has been carried out, within an agreed time scale.
- If you learn that it has not and they have decided to take no further action, nor co-operate with you regarding above actions, you should advise them that you will confidentially notify their personal tutor (or more appropriate member of the faculty) of your concerns for their welfare. You should then immediately contact the appropriate School Secretary's office. Without disclosing the detail of their difficulties, you should explain that this student is in need of ongoing monitoring and support in relation to their welfare and ask that they identify the most appropriate person to provide this. This may be their designated personal tutor or another faculty member, where this is deemed to be more appropriate. Having contacted them, you should then outline in more detail the exact concerns that you have for the said student.
- The designated person should then attempt to meet with the student on a regular basis (the frequency of which can only be assessed by the designated staff member) to monitor the situation. If in any doubt about this, or further concerns are raised regarding the student's mental health status, then the above steps (either part 1 or part 2) should be repeated and/or the University Health Service or Deputy Director of Student Operations (Mr Graham Nicholson) should be contacted urgently for further direction.
It is the responsibility of the University Health Service personnel to accurately inform referrers (including self referrers) of the likely waiting time for any appointment. It is also their responsibility to prioritise urgent referrals within allocated resources. Where urgent/immediate contact is not possible, they will advise referrers that an urgent appointment with the student's own GP should be arranged.
On receipt of a formal referral to her, the mental health nurse will formally notify the referrer and the student's GP of the appointment date and time. Should the student not attend nor contact the service, the referrer and GP will be informed of this also along with further proposals for contact (or not). The referrer will not be furnished with any further information regarding ongoing contact without the express permission of the student, due to the confidential nature of the service. The student's GP will be advised of their progress throughout the duration of their contact with the mental health nurse.
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