500 signatures reached
To: Steve Barlcay (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care).
More facilities and inpatient beds for OCD sufferers
There are currently only 10 NHS 24 hour care inpatient beds for both OCD and BDD patients nationally. Please provide more facilities and 24 hour inpatient beds for OCD sufferers.
Why is this important?
My son is one of the death to suicide statistics for 2023.
My beautiful son, Liam suffered for nearly 6 years battling with OCD, he was told he required inpatient care due to his severe life impacting OCD. This was never offered and he committed suicide on 5th May 2023.
The UK has only one NHS 24 hour care facility nationally, providing 10 beds for both OCD and BDD patients.
Around three quarters of a million people are thought to be living with severe, life impacting and debilitating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) here in the UK.
(https://www.ocduk.org/ocd/ accessed 28th June 2023).
A Cambridge article confirmed, rates of suicide attempts in OCD sufferers appear to be as high as 27%. Death-to-suicide rates in OCD sufferers are shown to be as high as 1.4%.
(https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-open/article/resolving-the-discrepancies-of-suicide-risk-in-obsessivecompulsive-patients-a-review-of-incidence-rates-and-risk-factors-of-suicide-and-suicide-attempts-in-ocd/B07F6BA120B93572B83C3C8B5A744120 Published 18 June 2021, Accessed 28 June 2023).
Page 2 of the referee guide for the Trustwide
OCD and BDD unit, states this is the only NHS Unit to provide 24 hour care in the UK for OCD & BDD patients. Yet they only have 10 beds!
(https://www.swlstg.nhs.uk/documents/related-documents/our-services/334-ocd-referrers-guide/file) Accessed 16 August 2023.
How it will be delivered
Write directly to Steve Barlcay (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care).
