Emergency Placements
Somewhere safe tonight. We answer emergency referrals twenty four hours a day, every day of the year.
The referral nobody can place at half past six on a Friday
Placements break down. Carers are admitted to hospital. A safeguarding concern means somebody cannot go back tonight. A young person arrives with nowhere to sleep. Hospitals need to discharge somebody who has no home to be discharged to. None of it happens at a convenient hour and most of it happens at the end of the week.
Our emergency service runs twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, for adults and for children. A referral submitted at any hour reaches somebody who can actually make a decision rather than a voicemail that gets picked up on Monday.
What makes this work is not a phone line. It is having our own properties, our own staff and our own transport, so that saying yes does not depend on three other organisations agreeing to something first. When we say we can take somebody tonight, we mean tonight.
We are also willing to take the referrals other providers decline. Complex needs, behaviour that challenges, a history that reads badly on paper, a previous placement that broke down. Our position is that the more complex the need, the more important it is that somebody says yes.
The other half of an emergency placement is what happens on day two. A bed for the night is not a plan. Every emergency placement gets a proper assessment and a support plan straight away, so that an emergency does not quietly become a year of drift.
This is likely right if
- A placement has broken down and somebody needs to move today
- A family carer has been admitted to hospital with no cover in place
- A safeguarding concern means somebody cannot return home tonight
- A hospital discharge is blocked because there is nowhere to go
- A young person needs somewhere safe immediately
Something else may fit better if
- Somebody needs urgent medical treatment, where hospital is the answer
- The situation is planned rather than urgent, where an ordinary referral gets a fuller assessment
What happens when an emergency referral comes in
The first few hours matter, so they are the part we have made specific rather than leaving to whoever is on.
Referral received
Any hour, any day. Online or by phone. It reaches somebody who can make a decision, not an answerphone.
Immediate response
We come back within hours with a straight answer. If we cannot take somebody we say so quickly so you can try elsewhere rather than waiting on us.
Rapid risk assessment
Enough to place somebody safely tonight and to know who they are being placed alongside. Getting that mix wrong makes an emergency worse.
Transport
We have our own vehicles and our own support workers, so getting somebody to the placement is not another agency to chase.
Arrival
A private furnished room, staff on site, and somebody whose job that evening is this person rather than the paperwork.
Day two
Full assessment and a support plan. An emergency placement that never becomes a planned one is how people end up parked for a year.
What is included, and what is not
Set out plainly so there is nothing to discover later. Anything not listed here can still be discussed, and often arranged.
Included as standard
- A response within hours, at any time of day or night
- A private, furnished room with staff on site around the clock
- Rapid risk assessment before arrival
- Our own transport with trained support workers
- Full assessment and support plan within days of arrival
- Direct contact with a manager throughout
- Willingness to consider referrals other providers have declined
Arranged separately
- Urgent medical treatment, which is a hospital matter
- Secure accommodation
- Nursing care requiring a registered nurse
From first call to first visit
Designed to be usable at three in the morning by somebody who has already tried six other providers.
Contact us
Referral form or phone, whichever is faster for you. Do not wait for office hours, there is no queue to join.
We answer quickly
A yes or a no within hours. A fast no is more useful to you than a slow maybe and we treat it that way.
Placement and transport
We confirm the placement, arrange the move and collect where that helps.
Assessment follows
Full assessment, support plan and funding confirmation done properly once the person is safe, not before.
How this is paid for
Emergency placements are normally funded by the referring local authority or NHS team. We know perfectly well that funding approval frequently cannot be obtained at eight on a Friday evening, and we do not use that as a reason to leave somebody without a bed.
Placement details and funding are confirmed in writing as soon as it is practical to do so. Getting the person safe comes first and the paperwork follows.
Read the full guide to fundingWhat families ask us about this
Do you really answer at any hour?
Yes. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, including weekends and bank holidays. That is precisely when emergency referrals actually happen.
How fast will you come back to me?
Within hours. If the answer is no we will tell you quickly, because a fast no lets you spend your time somewhere more useful.
Do you take children as well as adults?
Yes, both. Our children and young people division covers ages nought to eighteen and takes emergency referrals on the same basis.
Will you take a referral other providers have turned down?
We will look at it properly. Complex needs, behaviour that challenges and a difficult history are not automatic refusals here. The more complex the need, the more it matters that somebody says yes.
What if funding is not agreed yet?
We place first and confirm funding afterwards where the situation demands it. Nobody should be left without a bed because a finance system is closed for the weekend.
What happens after the first night?
A full assessment and a proper support plan within days. An emergency bed is not a plan, and our job is to turn it into one quickly rather than let somebody drift.
Do you provide transport?
Yes, our own vehicles with our own trained support workers. That means arranging the move is one phone call rather than another agency to chase.
Services that often go together
Supported Living
Your own private room in a staffed house, and a structured route out of it towards living on your own terms.
Read moreCarer Support and Respite
Planned breaks, from a few hours to a few weeks, for the person who has been doing this without stopping.
Read moreCommunity Mental Health Outreach
Practical support to stay well, stay housed and stay out of hospital, delivered where the person actually is.
Read moreNeed a placement today?
Submit a referral now or ring us. Adults and children, any hour, including weekends and bank holidays.
Emergency placements are answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.