Male & Female PICU (Psychiatric Intensive Care Units)
Cygnet Health Care's Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (PICU) provide a locked, low security environment for the short term care and treatment of people suffering from mental illness.
Our PICU staff are able to provide a higher level of support and supervision than can be provided by teams on the larger acute inpatient wards.
Our expert teams provide contained assessment and treatment, individually tailoring each client's treatment programme and providing a full therapeutic service.
We aim to provide individualised care and treatment which promotes recovery and supports the return home as soon as possible, working together with patients to determine the best plan of care and course of treatment.
We aim to deliver an intensive and supportive care package in a safe, therapeutic and low stimulus environment. We work with patients to enable them to regain a sense of control and order in their lives, facilitating their transfer to a less restrictive care setting.
Admission criteria
- Patients admitted will be aged 18 or over. Patients will not normally be over the age of 65.
- Patients will be detained under the appropriate completed assessment/treatment Section (not admitted on Section 4, 5/2, 5/4 or 136) of the Mental Health Act/Order.
- Patient presenting with behavioural difficulties which compromise their physical or psychological well-being, or that of others and which cannot be safely assessed or treated in an open acute inpatient facility.
- Patients displaying a risk of aggression, absconding with associated risk, suicide or vulnerability (e.g. due to sexual disinhibition or overactivity), in the context of a serious mental disorder.
- The admission for PICU's is due to a new episode or to an acute exacerbation of the patient's condition.
- All PICU's will develop standardised, robust risk assessment procedures. These will include objective validated measures as well as comprehensive, multidisciplinary, clinical risk assessment systems.
Treatment Programme
Each patient is assessed as close to admission as possible; therapy is extremely flexible, and responsive to the changing needs of service users.
A holistic approach is adopted, and all aspects of a service user's life are considered, including employment and education, family and friends, interpersonal and social skills, and home environment.
Service users are encouraged to take part in daily activities appropriate to their needs, and to their stage of recovery. They achieve their goals using a combination of individual and group activities such as creative writing, music, education or work sessions, relaxation, and anxiety management.
Any of the following could be utilised in an individual treatment programme:
- Cognitive approaches
- Psychotherapeutic approaches
- Behavioural approaches
- Physical treatments (including medication and ECT where appropriate)
A Clinical Psychologist is available to provide in depth assessment, consultation and psychological therapy when appropriate.
Referrals
Referrals can be made 24 hours a day directly to a hospital by phone or by faxing a completed referral form.
Alternatively, referrals can be processed through our convenient central bed sourcing service, Cygnet Central.
Decisions on urgent referrals can be decided within 2 hours. With more complex referrals (e.g. from Prison) we undertake to make a visit and assessment within 48 hours but where possible we will endeavor to complete this within 24 hours.
