How does Bristol rate as a place in which to be ill?

[Prasada]

Obviously there is no ‘good place’ in which to be ill. However, I have always liked Bristol for being generally civilised and pleasant, large enough to be sociable, with good facilities, but not so big that it’s a rambling, soulless, conurbation. How does this chime with people who have lived there when going through an illness, with regard to services, accommodation, finances, the attitudes of the locals, and so on?

 

[Apotheosis]

I have heard good things about Bristol too.

All I can relate this to is my own experiences. I used to live in a very rural area. How things played out was crisis - section - discharge from hospital - & then shortly after discharge from psychiatric services - that pattern played out 4 times. Every time I was left in the community with no support whatsoever & with no contact with any kind of psychiatric services. One time I was discharged from all services & left on very high doses of meds. Nothing was ever done to give me any kind of practical help, & the admissions just compounded my problems.

I finally moved area. I initially tried going with things alone, & with a GP. I went through 2 more major breakdowns with virtually no orthodox help. On both occasions I ended up back in the rural area I had moved from - with the only 'help' being a GP I was registered with some 20 miles away. Towards the end of the last breakdown I moved into the centre of a largish town, & registered with the LMHT. I have been under them since; & although support is still lacking; it has been more support than I have ever had. The MH personnel here are in general friendly, polite & thorough.

I do think that things depend a lot on circumstances, but that you are better to live in a more built up area & town to access better services. Although I would not fancy being mentally ill in London.

 

[Prasada]

London is something else altogether. On the other hand, being ill in the countryside must be bad news, not least because of the isolation and the difficulty in getting anywhere.

Your experience of being discharged early with no support is common in other areas of medicine. In the UK, if you have a cardiac bypass they chuck you out after 10 days or so, whereas in Poland they would keep you in for a month. This is a result of 30 years of spending cuts in health.

 

[Apotheosis]

Yes - the Joys of the National Hell Service.

 

[Napolean Today]

I think the American Health Service is worse.

From what I've read. We got it good. I haven't seen my CPN in months. I wouldn't cope except for the ball & chain. Things may be better in Poland right now but there's talk of the EU pulling its subsidies from the East Europeans. Don't think it'll be so good over there after that? Really we're in a worldwide crisis. Social systems are under strain everywhere. There's no best place to be in shipwreck although it isn't a good idea to be where the most people are, where the least lifeboats are. A semi-rural area. People can self-organise and grow their own food in a semi-rural area. People treat each other as individuals rather than dots when there's less of'em around.

 

[Prasada]

Things may be better in Poland right now but there's talk of the EU pulling its subsidies from the East Europeans. Don't think it'll be so good over there after that?

Poland’s medical profession was light years ahead of ours long before 2004 when they joined the EU, including expertise and equipment. It’s like Star Trek over there. All Polish people I know fly home for medical and dental treatment. You would not get them into a British hospital unless they were literally falling down in the street.

I’ve had medical and dental treatment there myself.

Whereas the old Communist governments pre-1989 paid more into the health service per capita than the corporate-oriented western countries, none of the Communist states were particularly wealthy to begin with. I’m not sure how it was achieved.

 

[Napolean Today]

Poles are willing to do the work others wont?

I understand the suicide rate of dentists are incredibly high. Maybe the miserable weather their makes removing teeth a pleasure? at least your indoors?

 

[DavidJames]

Hi. I've been hearing voices for seven years and I would not have survived this in a town setting, it would have had to have been a city for me, and it was, it was Bristol. It's a great city for finding support and great distractions from the voice hearing. With cafés, bars, community centres, local shopping and really great and inspiring walks around the city, it is heard to beat as place to go through a serious psychotic episode. I found bookshop, coffee shops, and charity shops that helped no end for me to feel human again and reach out a little, just a little. Bristol is certainly a good place to beif you feel like reaching out to diverse groups and diverse new opportunities. I really dread to think how slow my recovery would have been somewhere else and we all know what a cultural vacuum parts of this country can be to live in. Bristol has so much to offer and has been a great place to live both as a newcomer long before I started hearing voices and as someone in crisis who desperately needed places to go in times of crisis. The Watershed, the Arts house Café, the canteen at Hamilton House, Ashley Vale in St. Werburgh's, so many great places to go and chill. Only very few cities can really compete with this one, I feel

 

[Christobel]

Hello from another bristolian born and bred! I too had a breakdown which began with a serious psychosis, and spent the next fifteen years on antipsychotics and antidepressants. I was in the Priory Clinic in the city, but can't say the care was any better than the NHS. I now live in the country and am on a yellow card discharge , which means I don't have to start with primary care all over again if I have a relapse.

I agree that in Bristol there are ways to distract yourself. I worked in the Mind charity shop in Gloucester Road and found them very supportive.

 

[calypso]

I was brought up in Bristol and I didn't get much from the system there. I didn't realise how much was available until I came to live in the North West and found the system up here is utterly amazing in comparison. But, I only needed the intensive help up here to be honest and whilst Bipolar there, I only had major depression not the highs. It could be down to my GP though, he didn't want to refer me at all.

 

[waitingforsummer]

Its not the best area to be unwell in...but there are some positives. I think mental health services are sparse and difficult to access in Bristol.....But....all of the GP's i've seen here over the last few years have been amazingly knowledgeable about mental health drugs and treatments, holistic, kind, non-judgemental, caring and understanding. So, in that way I feel very, very lucky

 

[Da9934]

I've found getting help in Bristol to be neigh on impossible, maybe that's because I'm a working class man with a job and I should just man up?