Characteristics of patients presenting for emergency mental health assessment from 27 March to 31 May 2020 and for the same period in 2019
| 2019 (n=328) | 2020 (n=255) | P value | |
| Age, mean (SD) | 39.3 (17.4) | 37.8 (16.1) | 0.289* |
| Gender | |||
| Male, n (%) | 181 (55.2) | 111 (43.5) | 0.005† |
| Female, n (%) | 147 (44.8) | 144 (56.5) | |
| Referral | |||
| GP, n (%) | 59 (18) | 53 (20.8) | <0.001† |
| Self, n (%) | 257 (78.4) | 170 (66.7) | |
| Medical, n (%) | 3 (0.9) | 16 (6.3) | |
| Police, n (%) | 9 (2.7) | 15 (5.9) | |
| Other, n (%) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.4) | |
| Homeless, n (%) | 27 (8.2) | 29 (11.4) | 0.202† |
| Self-harm or suicidal ideation, n (%) | 160 (48.8) | 126 (49.4) | 0.880† |
| Month | |||
| March (27–31), n (%) | 24 (7.3) | 30 (11.8) | 0.052† |
| April, n (%) | 151 (46) | 96 (37.6) | |
| May, n (%) | 153 (46.7) | 129 (50.6) | |
| Waiting time | |||
| <2 hours, n (%) | 126 (38.4) | 152 (59.6) | <0.001† |
| 2–6 hours, n (%) | 118 (36.0) | 71 (27.8) | |
| >6 hours, n (%) | 71 (21.6) | 30 (11.8) | |
| Left before seen, n (%) | 13 (4.0) | 2 (0.8) | |
| Outcome | |||
| Admission | 56 (17.1) | 66 (25.9) | 0.078† |
| CMHT follow-up | 224 (68.3) | 155 (60.8) | |
| Medical | 17 (5.2) | 13 (5.1) | |
| GP | 31 (9.5) | 21 (8.2) | |
*= Independent sample t-test
†= χ2; significance level is set at 0.05
CMHT, community mental health team; GP, general practitioner