Abstract
The UK went into nationwide lockdown on 24 March 2020, in response to COVID-19. The direct psychiatric effects of this are relatively unknown. We examined whether the first UK lockdown changed the demographics of patients admitted to psychiatric hospitals (to include gender, legality, route of admission and diagnoses), independent of seasonal variation.. We conducted an anonymous review of psychiatric admissions aged ≥18 years in the 6-month period after the announcement of the first UK lockdown (March to August 2020), and in the previous year (March to August 2019), in Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust in-patient facilities. The number of admissions were compared, along with factors that may help to explain the psychological effects of national lockdown. There was no significant increase in total number of admissions or the gender percentage. However, there was a 11.8% increase in formal sectioning under the Mental Health Act 1983. This increase was sustained and statistically significant across all 6 months. A sustained decrease in admissions via the crisis team was also observed as being statistically significant. Separate diagnoses saw changes in percentage of admissions between March and May. The most statistically significant was schizophrenia admissions for men in April (18.7%), and women in March (18.4%). Our findings highlight the effect of COVID-19 on the legal status of psychiatric admissions, and emphasise the importance of having a robust, adaptable and open psychiatric service that caters to the ongoing needs of patients, regardless of government restrictions.
Highlights
MethodsWe conducted an anonymous review of psychiatric admissions aged ≥18 years in the 6-month period after the announcement of the first UK lockdown (March to August 2020), and in the previous year (March to August 2019), in Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust in-patient facilities
The UK went into nationwide lockdown on 24 March 2020, in response to COVID-19
There was no significant increase in total number of admissions or the gender percentage
Summary
We conducted an anonymous review of psychiatric admissions aged ≥18 years in the 6-month period after the announcement of the first UK lockdown (March to August 2020), and in the previous year (March to August 2019), in Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust in-patient facilities. The number of admissions were compared, along with factors that may help to explain the psychological effects of national lockdown. Retrospective anonymous data was collected for all in-patient admissions between March to August 2019 and March to August 2020, across the KMPT. This included gender, age, legal status, date of admission, length of stay, previous admission to KMPT in-patient services, number of previous admissions, route of admission and diagnosis on discharge.
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