Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for male and females

Our Acute, PICU and Neuro Rapid Response bed status - Friday 2 June - Female beds available over the weekend

"The staff here are patient and respectful and they know how to keep is safe and support us" Female PICU Patient at St Andrew's

Frinton Female PICU ward - Essex

If you need help with a female crisis referral for a person suffering from an acute mental illness our Frinton ward team are here 24 hours a day, seven days a week - call us on 01268 723 860 - Going in to the weekend we have 3 Female PICU beds available in Essex, please note there is currently no access to seclusion on our female ward.

In line with NAPICU guidance we are unable to accept patients in to our PICU services with a primary diagnosis of Personality Disorder.

Male PICU wards - Northampton and Essex

Our male services Bayley in Northampton and Audley in Essex are currently full, but call the wards directly over the weekend as there may be discharges.

Neurobehavioural Rapid Response - We have one male bed available today. Please click here for more information and specific contact details. Seclusion rooms are available across our Neuro services where required.

Referral form and brochure

Click to download

Acute and PICU referral form 2023 Acute and PICU service brochure 2023

Our four male and female PICU wards are based centrally across Northampton and Essex offering 24/7 rapid assessment, intensive treatment and stabilisation for people with acute phases of mental illness, we aim to give you a decision on your referral within the hour.

To make a PICU enquiry or discuss a referral please contact our wards directly

Heygate ward – Male PICU N'ton Tel: 01604 616 111 Email: SAH.PICUMaleNorthampton@nhs.net

Bayley ward – Male PICU N'ton Tel: 01604 614 584 Email: SAH.PICUMaleNorthampton@nhs.net

Audley ward – Male PICU Essex Tel: 01268 723 930 Email: SAH.PICUMaleEssex@nhs.net

Frinton ward – Female PICU Essex Tel: 01268 723 860 Email: SAH.PICUFemaleEssex@nhs.net

To discuss a male referral into our ACUTE services please contact our wards on:

Benfleet ward - Male ACUTE Essex Tel: 01268 723 934 Email: SAH.ACUTEMaleEssex@nhs.net

Naseby ward - Male ACUTE Northampton Tel: 01604 616 179

Email: SAH.ACUTEMaleNorthampton@nhs.net

For Neuro Rapid Response enquiries for acquired brain injury, complex dementia or Huntington's disease please contact us in the following ways

Click here for our dedicated Neuro Rapid Response service page.

Male or Female Northampton (Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5:30pm) - Tel: 0800 434 6690

Email: admissions@stah.org

Male or Female Northampton (Out of office hours) - Please contact the relevant ward directly:

Tallis - Male Brain Injury - 01604 616497 Elgar - Female Brain Injury - 01604 616301
Aspen - Male Dementia - 01604 616457 Walton - Male Huntington's disease - 01604 616357
Cherry - Female Dementia / Huntington's disease - 01604 616659

Our current Covid-19 Testing and isolation guidance for new admissions - Updated: 10/05/22

There is now updated Covid-19 guidance for healthcare settings, which means there are some changes to the admissions and isolation processes affecting our patients:

1. New admissions will need to isolate and complete a lateral flow test. If negative, the patient can end isolation, but if positive the patient will remain in isolation, see below

2. Patients that have received a positive result can end their isolation before the 10 days if they have 2 consecutive negative LFT results 24 hours apart. This testing will be done from day 5.

Short term quarantining ensures the safety of all of our patients and staff.

How have you found our PICU referral to admission process?

As a charity working in partnership with others, we are continuously seeking feedback to improve the services we offer. If you have used our PICU services, please let us know your views, opinions, thoughts or ideas to help us continuously improve. Click here to share your feedback.

Live Acute and PICU Update

Updated: 10AM Friday 02 June

3 Female Beds Available

Frinton PICU 3 Beds Available

Essex

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0 Male Beds Available

Audley PICU 0 beds

Essex

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Bayley PICU 0 beds

Northampton

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Benfleet ACUTE 0 beds

Essex

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Heygate PICU 0 beds

Northampton

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Naseby ACUTE 0 beds

Northampton

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Our PICUs at a glance

Our PICUs offer a short period of rapid assessment, intensive treatment and stabilisation for people with acute phases of mental illness who are in need of emergency psychiatric care.

24/7 admissions service with decision within an hour of a referral.

Our team are expert in treating people with acute mental illness and complex needs, offering a range of group and individual therapeutic interventions to meet the patient’s needs at different stages of their recovery.

Included in the daily bed rate:

No admission fee
Assessment on admission
All medication included on the ward from admission.

Referrals accepted direct from Clinical Commissioning Groups and Foundation Trusts.

All our PICU wards are members of NAPICU, and adhere to the NAPICU minimum standards and their admissions criteria.

Meet our PICU team

Find out more about our PICU services

Watch our team video

Support for carers, family and friends

The therapeutic value of regular engagement with family and friends can be key to a person’s recovery and thankfully we are now able to welcome family and carers back on site.

We know that being a relative, carer or friend of someone who has been admitted onto one of our crisis service wards can be worrying and stressful and our Carers team is here to provide emotional support and help with issues such as health and money. Our Carers Centre can be contacted on 01604 616125, and a support line is available Monday to Friday, visit our carers pages for more information.

For family visiting our Northampton site, St Andrew's are able to offer accommodation locally to aid your support of a loved on in our crisis services. Please discuss this with the ward to arrange.