Self-harm presentations to Emergency Departments and Place of Safety during the ‘first wave’ of the UK COVID-19 pandemic: South London and Maudsley data on service use from February to June 2020

The lockdown and social distancing policy imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on both mental health service delivery, and the ways in which people are accessing these services. Previous reports from the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM; a large mental health service provider for around 1.2m residents in South London) have highlighted increased use of virtual contacts by mental health teams, with dropping numbers of face-to-face contacts over the first wave of the pandemic. There has been concern that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic would lead to higher mental health emergencies, particularly instances of self-harm. However, with people advised to stay at home during the ‘first wave’ lockdown, it is as yet unclear whether this impacted mental health service presentations. Taking advantage of SLaM’s Clinical Records Interactive Search (CRIS) data resource with daily updates of information from its electronic mental health records, this paper describes overall presentations to Emergency Department (ED) mental health liaison teams, and those with self-harm. The paper focussed on three periods: i) a pre-lockdown period 1 st February to 15 th March, ii) a lockdown period 16 th March to 10 th May and iii) a post-lockdown period 11 th May to 28 th June. In summary, all attendances to EDs for mental health support decreased during the lockdown period, including those with self-harm. All types of self-harm decreased during lockdown, with self-poisoning remaining the most common. Attendances to EDs for mental health support increased post-lockdown, although were only just approaching pre-lockdown levels by the end of June 2020.