Inpatient treatment: what is it and how does it work?

During inpatient treatment, you’ll stay in hospital on a residential basis to receive in-depth support for your mental health challenges. Inpatient treatment is especially important if:

• Your symptoms are severe, and are having a significantly negative impact on your ability to function in your daily life
• Your safety is at risk if you don’t come to hospital, for example, if you’re experiencing suicidal thoughts
• You need to be stabilised physically, for example, if you need to go through a detox from alcohol and/or drugs

Inpatient treatment is the most intensive form of support you can receive. It can be hugely beneficial in your recovery from a variety of mental health conditions, eating disorders and addictions. It gives you the chance to spend some time away from your usual living situation, which means you can leave behind any triggers or negative influences, and take the time to focus on your recovery and wellbeing. 

Family involvement

We recognise that mental health conditions, addictions and eating disorders can also have a significant impact on your family and loved ones. That’s why we encourage your family to be involved in your inpatient treatment journey as much as possible. We welcome visitors at our hospital sites and also invite family members to join family therapy and support groups.

Beautiful hospital environments

We firmly believe that the environment in which treatment takes place is just as important as the treatment programme itself for helping you to get better.

Our hospitals are set within beautiful buildings, and many have extensive, private grounds where you can relax and unwind. During inpatient treatment, you’ll stay in a modern, en-suite bedroom, and will also have access to our peaceful and welcoming living areas, providing a tranquil space for you to enjoy your leisure time.

Diet and nutrition are also an important part of our treatment philosophy at Priory. Each of our hospitals provides on-site catering, with dishes that are healthy, nutritious, and catered to your dietary needs.

Benefits of inpatient treatment

Inpatient treatment has a number of benefits. These include:

• Round-the-clock care from a multidisciplinary team, including consultants, therapists, nurses, healthcare assistants and other specialist mental health professionals. This means you’ll have emotional and medical support 24 hours a day
• Much-needed structure. We’ll make sure that your days are filled with therapeutic activities and a reliable structure, all of which will help you in your recovery
• A safe environment and a chance to spend time away from your usual living situation, which may be full of triggers and negative influences. If you're living with an addiction, you’ll be able to remain abstinent as you won’t be exposed to temptations
• The time and space to focus on your wellbeing
• The chance to spend time with other people who are in the same boat as you, so you can help and encourage each other

Inpatient vs outpatient

As well as inpatient treatment, we’re also able to offer outpatient treatment and day care services. These options may be suitable when you don’t need round-the-clock support for your mental health difficulties, but would still benefit from some ongoing therapy.

Outpatient treatment is when you attend one of our hospitals or wellbeing centres for weekly therapy sessions. Day care is when you attend one of our sites for a full or half-day each week, to receive therapy, but return home each evening. As well as offering face-to-face outpatient treatment, we can also offer this remotely.

You can step down to outpatient or day care treatment following an inpatient stay, or you can start off by having outpatient or day care treatment and progress to inpatient treatment if it turns out that you need some more comprehensive support.