Departments of liaison psychiatry
Contact
- Outpatients appointments
- 020 3312 3733
- Advice for GPs
- 020 3311 7220
Visitor Information
Translation help:
To translate this page into your preferred language, click the Google Translate icon in the top-right menu and select your desired language.
Liaison psychiatry at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust is provided by partner trusts in London. This service offers psychiatry services alongside medical treatment.
As our Trust spans across two mental health trusts there are differences in the services we provide at St Mary’s Hospital, which is covered by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, and Charing Cross, Hammersmith and Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea hospitals, which come under West London Mental Health NHS Trust.
At St Mary’s Hospital, our service provides mental healthcare to people attending St Mary’s, whether they present to A&E, attend outpatient clinics, or are admitted to inpatient wards. We also offer a perinatal mental health service. We deal with the interface between physical and psychological health.
At Charing Cross, Hammersmith and St Mary’s hospitals, the Hammersmith & Fulham psychiatry liaison service offers mental health services to inpatients and patients at A&E, as well as patients referred to our specialist clinics by their hospital consultants or GPs.
Both of the liaison psychiatry services operating at our Trust have been accredited as excellent services by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. This means that patients, carers, frontline staff, commissioners, managers and regulators can be assured that our service is excellent and that staff are committed to improving care.
Conditions and treatments
As many as a quarter of people admitted to hospital with physical problems may have mental health issues, which can manifest themselves in many different ways.
The liaison psychiatry team offers assessment and psychological support for our patients within the general hospital. The importance of psychological factors is increasingly recognised at many stages on the patient journey. The liaison psychiatry team has expertise in both managing and advising medical teams on the management of their complex clinical problems. As a liaison psychiatry team we also offer assessment for those presenting to A&E with a mental health crisis.
Problems that may be referred to liaison psychiatry include:
- Psychological reactions to physical illness
- Deliberate self-harm
- Medically unexplained symptoms
- Organic mental disorders: delirium and dementia
- Alcohol and substance misuse
- Mental illness related to childbirth
- Diagnostic difficulties
- Abnormal illness behaviour
- Behavioural disturbance
- Medico-legal decisions
- Assessment of capacity to refuse medical treatment
- Psychosis
- Mood disorders such as depression, mania or anxiety
We are happy to discuss cases with any clinician to establish whether a psychiatric assessment would be beneficial to a patient and their care. There are no specific test or investigations that we request. However a current mental state is beneficial, as well as any past medical and mental health history. Treatments are based on each individual case and will be discussed with patients and appropriate clinicians once treatment needs have been established.
Clinics
Diabetes psychological medicine service at Charing Cross Hospital
Address
Diabetes Psychological Medicine Service
Department of Liaison Psychiatry
Room 24
Fifth floor
East wing
Charing Cross Hospital
Fulham Palace Road
London W6 8RF
Contact
Phone: 020 3311 0232
Fax: 020 3311 7234
Email: ICHC-tr.DiabetesPsychologicalMedicine@nhs.net
Hours
09.00 to 17.00, Monday through Friday
Respiratory Psychological Medicine service at Charing Cross Hospital
Address
Respiratory Psychological Medicine
Department of Liaison Psychiatry
Room 24
Fifth floor
East wing
Charing Cross Hospital
Fulham Palace Road
London W6 8RF
Contact
Phone: 020 3311 0232
Fax: 020 3311 7234
Email: RPMS@imperial.nhs.uk
Hours
09.00 to 17.00, Monday through Friday
Perinatal Mental Health Service at Charing Cross Hospital
Address
Perinatal Mental Health Service
First Floor
B Block
Hammersmith Hospital
Du Cane Road
London W12 0HS
Contact
Phone: 020 8383 3033
Fax: 020 8383 3047
Email: perinatal.mentalhealthservice@imperial.nhs.uk
Hours
09.00 to 17.00, Monday through Friday. Appointments are held on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
Bariatric psychiatry clinic at St Mary's Hospital
Address
Bariatric Psychiatry Clinic
Imperial Weight Centre
Imperial Bariatrics
Imperial NHS Trust/West London Mental Health NHS Trust
Third floor
Room 10
Salton House
St Mary’s Hospital
Praed Street
London W2 1NY
Contact
Phone: 020 3312 6449
Fax: 020 3312 5687
Email: bariatrics@imperial.nhs.uk
Psychiatry liaison clinics with the assessment team
Address
The Assessment Team
Claybrook Centre
37 Claybrook Road
Hammersmith
London W6 8LN
Contact
Phone: 020 7386 1271
Hours
09.00 to 17.00, Monday through Friday.
Perinatal mental health service at St Mary's and Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea hospitals.
Meet the team
Central and North West London NHS Trust at St Mary’s Hospital:
Steven Reid, consultant liaison psychiatrist, clinical lead
Maddalena Miele, consultant perinatal psychiatrist
Bartlomiej Matras, consultant liaison psychiatrist
James Hughes, service manager
Hammersmith & Fulham liaison psychiatry service:
Dr Angharad Ruttley, lead
Dr Amrit Sachar (liaison psychiatry; diabetes psychological service; COPD psychological service)
Dr Vincent Law
Dr Sachin Patel
Dr Emma Browde
Dr Sarah Taha (perinatal mental health)
Dr Sam Scholtz (bariatric mental health)
Jon Luff, team manager
Emma Valentine, senior nurse specialist
Andrew Woodward, senior nurse specialist
Matthew Murphy, senior nurse specialist
Purdish Karda, psychiatric liaison nurse
Nyasha Kajawu, psychiatric liaison nurse
Amy Lyon, senior perinatal nurse specialist
Dupe Adu-White, highly specialist psychotherapist for diabetes service
Maria Tulino, specialist counselling psychologist for COPD service
Patient information
Find out what to expect from your appointment with the Hammersmith & Fulham liaison psychiatry team.
Before your appointment
Whether you are attending one of our specialist clinics or seeing a liaison psychiatrist as an inpatient at one of our hospitals, you are welcome to include a close friend, family member or carer in your care. However it is not uncommon for us to ask to see you by yourself first before inviting your family member, carer or friend in with you. This is so that we can discuss any concerns you may have in a safe environment which is confidential. It also provides you an opportunity to discuss matters with us that you may not want disclosed to those close to you. You will always be asked whether you would like someone to be with you during your appointment.
If you are engaging in formal therapy through one of our clinics, this is one-to-one therapy and can be discussed with the therapist prior to engaging with the treatment. It is helpful, although not essential, that you provide us with your past medical history, medication list and any psychiatric history.
During your appointment
In A&E we endeavour to see patients within one hour of the referral being made to our service. At periods of high demand this may well take longer. For our specialist clinics you should receive an appointment within a month of referral to the service.
For emergency assessments that take place in the A&E department how long the appointment takes is dependent on the circumstances of the crisis and the outcome of assessment. For our specialist clinics the appointments can range between thirty minutes to an hour.
We will usually only see you if you have given your consent. Anything you say to us is treated in the strictest confidence and will only be shared with other members of the team and with other people involved in your care such as your GP. We work in both the general hospital and also the mental health trust. Our notes are stored safely on the secure mental health trust electronic records system and a copy placed in your hospital notes so that the doctors who are treating you have a record of our advice.
As we are a teaching hospital there may be times that a medical student or a student nurse will be with us. You will be informed of this when we meet you and you will be given the opportunity to agree or refuse whether they can remain in the consultation.
You may have one of two different types of appointments with us:
- Liaison psychiatry: If your doctor feels you would benefit from our service and you meet the referral criteria, you may be seen by a member of our liaison psychiatry team while you are in hospital, either on the ward or in A&E. A member of the team will meet with you to discuss any concerns about your mental health and the impact this may be having on your life as a whole. We include family and carers’ views, as well as those of any other professionals who may be already involved in your care.
- Specialist clinics: You will be seen by a doctor, nurse, psychotherapist or psychologist from the service you have been referred to. This appointment may be in hospital or at home. A member of the team will talk to you about your health and the impact this has on you. They may well ask others involved in your life for information such as family, carers or other professionals who know you well. Ongoing treatment, support, therapy and a treatment timeline will be discussed with you.
After your appointment
We discuss all our assessments as a team to ensure that we provide the best help for you. We would also discuss our opinion and plans with your medical team. For some patients one meeting with us is enough, for others we may need to see you a number of times.
We may need to refer you to other agencies once you are discharged from hospital to continue treatment and we will inform your GP of our input. You may receive a copy of any letters we send to your GP and receive a care plan based on the outcome of our discussion with you.
If we believe that there is a significant risk you might seriously harm yourself or others, or we are concerned about possible harm to vulnerable people such as children, we may be obliged to speak to other agencies about your care.
Watch this video to learn more about the liaison psychiatry service offered at St Mary’s Hospital by the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
Refer to this service
GP advice and referrals
The psychiatry liaison service at St Mary’s Hospital does not accept referrals from GPs. However, the perinatal mental health service at St Mary’s Hospital does accept GP and secondary care referrals. Learn more about referring to our perinatal mental health service.
The only way to access an emergency assessment for mental health by Hammersmith & Fulham liaison psychiatry is through the A&E department at Charing Cross Hospital. If a GP wishes to send a patient to the A&E department for such an emergency assessment then a call to liaison psychiatry on 020 3311 7220 should be made to discuss the clinical details with a clinician and a referral letter sent with the patient for the A&E clinicians.
For those patients already known to secondary mental health services who are presenting in crisis the patient’s community mental health team should be the first point of contact to arrange ongoing mental health care and follow up.
Referrals are considered on a case-by-case basis but for guidance those presenting with an acute disturbance of mental state and/or behaviour which poses a significant, imminent risk to the patient or others should be considered for an emergency assessment.
We have specific referral criteria and guidance for our clinics – please review this information before making a referral. Once you’ve submitted your referral, please call the relevant service to ensure that your referral has been received.
The Assessment Team at Claybrook Centre
Please post referral letters to the address below. If your referral is urgent, please call the service first to discuss the case.
The Assessment Team
Claybrook Centre
37 Claybrook Road
Hammersmith
London W6 8LN
Phone: 020 7386 1271
Bariatric psychiatry clinic
If a GP would like to discuss a referral to this service please call the bariatric psychiatry clinic on 020 3312 6449 or email imperial.bariatrics@nhs.net and request a call back from one of the clinicians.
Diabetes psychological medicine service
Please call 020 3311 0232 to discuss referrals.
Perinatal psychiatry service
Respiratory psychological medicine
Please call 020 3311 0232 to discuss referrals.
Further resources
Take our friends and family test Learn more
Would you recommend our services to your friends and family? Let us know by completing our friends and family test. Your comments will help us to make changes and take immediate action when there’s a problem.