Mina Topley-Bird
13 Apr 2021 · Coroner James Thompson · County Durham and Darlington
The coroner's concerns
1. lack of national policy to coordinate transfer of patients back to home area
“when a patient is admitted to a bed within a Mental Health Trust out of their normal locality (in this case County Durham, when the patient lived in London) there was no national policy to co-ordinate the transfer of patients back to their 'Home' area. It appears there was no agreed escalation policy when a bed could not be obtained and no agreed process to 'apply' for a bed in another Trust area”