Priory's acute and psychiatric intensive care services

Priory’s specialist inpatient acute and psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) teams are committed to providing the highest quality of care. We help support patients with a wide range of mental health conditions in therapeutic and supportive environments.

Service overview

• Highest quality of care for a wide range of mental health conditions
• Emergency placements 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Flexible treatment plans to meet individual needs
• Immediate focus on stabilisation and discharge planning for positive end goals
• Seamless transitions into higher dependency, community living, complex care services or back home, reflecting individual needs

With an expert multidisciplinary team at all sites, we provide a swift and appropriate response to meet the needs of each individual, as highlighted in our acute service outcomes:

(Priory Healthcare Quality Account 2012/23)

*May also contain private services information

Our approach

Our aim is to assist any patient within our Acute or PICU Services, to understand and treat their condition, using National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) approved interventions that help to recognise and prevent triggers for relapse. Our multidisciplinary teams encourage patients to fully engage in all aspects of their recovery.

in our acute services, all treatments provided are flexible to meet requirements and personal circumstances, and may include:

• Medication reviews 
• Psychological intervention
• Management of self-harm and hostility
• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) interventions where appropriate
• Management of physical health care needs
• Formulating problems/diagnosis using a biopsychosocial model
• Crisis planning and relapse prevention
• Anxiety management
• Practical help with basics of daily living skills
• Problem solving

We provide personalised treatment programmes in safe, calming and comfortable environments for those with the most complex of care needs.

Acute services

We work closely with referring provider trusts and local systems to achieve minimum lengths of stay for patients and work collaboratively with discharge teams to strive for a smooth transition back into existing community services, or to an individual’s home where possible.

For more information on our acute services, including who we support, please click here

PICU services

Our psychiatric intensive care services are adept at dealing with patients in a severe phase of illness, who cannot be managed on an acute or HDU service. Our staff teams have extensive experience in managing high levels of disturbance, enabling our PICUs to admit from a variety of settings, including from other PICUs.

For more information on our PICU services, including details on who we can support, please click here

Priory accepts referrals from a variety of public sector and independent organisations throughout the UK. These include:

• NHS provider trusts
• Local systems
• Community mental health teams
• High secure hospitals
• Medium secure hospitals
• Psychiatric hospitals
• Prisons and courts
• Social services and the police

All our hospitals have specific admission criteria relevant to the service and support they offer.

Same-day admission can be facilitated and we can assist in transferring the patient if required. We are able to accept referrals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Urgent or out-of-hours appointments and admissions can be arranged immediately by telephoning our dedicated service centre.

Please note, unfortunately we are unable to take self-referrals for NHS services. For treatment to be funded through the NHS, this will need to be discussed with a GP or a care co-ordinator.