The Orchards and Limes AMH Inpatient Unit, Portsmouth

The Adult Mental Health (AMH) inpatient wards are across two units. The two units are called The Orchards and The Limes.

The Orchards

In The Orchards unit, there are two wards called Hawthorn Ward and Maples Ward. The Orchards unit forms part of the Acute Care Pathway. The Hawthorn Ward is for Acute Admissions and the Maples Ward is for Psychiatric Intensive Care. They both primarily look after working age adults (18-65 years). However, they may accept those who are older depending on their needs. It also depends if they require an admission for a period of treatment for a mental illness and due to their risks, cannot receive appropriate care in the community.

Hawthorn Ward is a 20 bedded acute admissions ward, providing a supportive and safe environment for service users experiencing an acute episode of mental illness. The team provide a high standard of care and support sustainable service user involvement and participation throughout their treatment by facilitating a holistic approach to their care in order to meet individual needs and goals. Service Users must be registered with a Portsmouth GP.

Maple Ward is a 10 bedded locked ward, which provides a high standard of intensive psychiatric care in a supportive and safe environment to service users who are placed on a Section of the Mental Health Act (1983). Service Users are ordinarily experiencing severe mental health crisis. They require an increased level of care due to their illness and they may pose risks to either themselves or others. Service Users must be registered with a Portsmouth GP.

• Contact person – Lorraine Davis – Clinical Matron
• Full address - The Orchards, Locksway Road, Southsea, Portsmouth, PO4 8FE
• Phone number – 0300123662

The Limes

In the Limes unit, there is one ward called Brooker Ward. The Brooker ward is a Older Persons Mental Health (OPMH) that caters primarily for persons over the age of 65. The multidisciplinary team provide care for older adults requiring assessment and treatment for an acute phase of a mental illness or a mental illness causing severely challenging behaviour. The MDT (multi-disciplinary team) includes nurses, healthcare support workers, Doctors, Physiotherapists, occupational therapists, pharmacists and psychologists, who work together with patients and family members to provide person centred care. Service Users must be registered with a Portsmouth GP.

Brooker ward is 22 bedded OPMH ward, which all have en-suite facilities. It is comprised of an eight bedded Functional acute ward, and a 14 bedded Organic ward.

All areas have a facility to provide single sex areas including single sex quiet areas and the unit is accessible for individuals with physical disabilities.

There are close links with the community physical and mental health services such as the Community Mental Health Teams, and Intermediate Care team facilitating a seamless service between inpatient and outpatient care.

Mental Health promotion and care works best when statutory and voluntary services work jointly with patients and carers, this is the underlying philosophy of the Orchards and the Limes. Patients and carers are actively involved in planning care.

The design and culture of the service strives to provide peace, tranquillity and skilled person-centred care for its patients.

• Contact person - Lorraine Davis – Clinical Matron
• Full address - The Limes, Woodlands Walk, Southsea, Portsmouth, PO4 8GB
• Phone number - 0300 123 3922

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Referral criteria

The catchment area that the Inpatient Mental Health Service serves is all of Portsmouth City, which is co-terminus with the geographical area supported by Portsmouth City Council Social Services. The Mental health services in Portsmouth is part of Solent NHS Trust and as such it provides care for those patients registered within the GP practices within the trust who require specialist care. The inpatient mental health service is at The Orchards and The Limes, which is in the Milton area of Portsmouth.

The Orchards - All referrals must be made to the CRHT (Crisis resolution & Home Treatment Team (Single Point of Access) who will then assess the appropriate support for the service user. The CRHT will accept referrals from your GP (in crisis situations), qualified Mental Health Professionals and Community Mental Health Teams.

The Limes - All admissions to the unit are planned via the multi-disciplinary team. This includes admissions in compliance with the Mental Health Act 1983 including those required out of hours.

Urgent psychiatric referrals from general hospitals for the below, are only accepted when the patient is medically stable (a transfer form must be completed).

· Older adults with a functional illness

· Older adults with an organic illness

· Provision of in-depth clinical assessment for those who are vulnerable and at risk in the community

· To provide crisis intervention

· To treat, manage and meet complex mental health needs