Ticehurst Adult Acute Services

This service has two wards and is designed to accept NHS overspill emergency admissions any time of the day or night to respond to people’s needs in a time of crisis. Referrals are reviewed by a dedicated central triage team for adults.

Our specialist team of nurses, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists and consultant psychiatrists work with a recovery focus from admission, by providing the therapeutic techniques and coping strategies that are most appropriate, for a wide range of mental health conditions.

Newington Court – Female adult acute unit

Newington Court is a specialist inpatient service for 16 female patients. The unit has recently undergone a refurbishment programme and provides a comfortable and calm atmosphere that promotes recovery and wellbeing.

Referrals to the female unit must meet the following criteria:

• Primary mental health diagnosis – presenting with acute psychosis and/or severe mood disorder and often self-harming behaviour
• Informal or detained under the Mental Health Act
• Risk to self or others
• Mental state that requires further assessment or treatment
• Females over the age of 18
• Presenting significant and continued risk to themselves or to others, both on the ward and in the community and who are likely to abscond
• Admitted from A&E, psychiatric intensive care units (PICUs), community services and other mental health settings

Garden Court – Male adult acute unit

Garden Court is a specialist inpatient service for 13 male patients. The unit has recently undergone a refurbishment programme and provides a comfortable and calm atmosphere that promotes recovery and wellbeing

The skilled multidisciplinary team has many years’ experience safely managing complex individuals in an acute phase of mental illness, often with behaviours that challenge.

Referrals to the male unit must meet the following criteria:

• Primary mental health diagnosis – presenting with acute psychosis and/or severe mood disorder and often self-harming behaviour
• Informal or detained under the Mental Health Act
• Risk to self or others
• Mental state that requires further assessment or treatment
• Males over the age of 18
• Presenting significant and continued risk to themselves or to others, both on the ward and in the community and who are likely to abscond
• Admitted from A&E, PICUs, community services and other mental health settings

Our approach

On the programme, our teams will:

• Complete a desktop risk assessment on receipt of the referral information
• Respond to the referrer within 30 minutes and agree admission within less than an hour
• Work with referring community teams to identify purpose of admission and discharge planning
• Assess, manage, stabilise and treat an individual with an acute period of mental illness
• Provide regular clinical updates along with guidance on future placements
• Offer full cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) based programmes including 1:1 therapies
• Plan for discharge from admission

Priory Hospital Ticehurst House works collaboratively with the discharge teams to ensure a smooth transition back into existing community services, or to an individual’s home were possible.