Mental Health Act Commission slam tough and scarey mental health wards

[v01ce5]

See below. This report really condemns in patient psychiatric services.

Do forum members think this is something we should start campaigning about?

"Mental Health wards have become "tougher and scarier" places under the Labour government and many are so overcrowded that it is difficult for staff to deliver good care, the official watchdog for detained patients reports today.

As an urgent priority, ministers must honour previous commitments that women patients should be safe from sexual harassment, abuse and assault and that children as young as 12 are no longer placed on adult wards, the Mental Health Act Commission's biennial report says.

It warns: "Something must be done about this. It is scandalous that we are forcing vulnerable people on to mental health wards that are frightening and dangerous places." The Guardian,

 

[chicken]

I live in the real world and see what is happening. Yes some people are vunerable and see that some people bury their heads in the sand and cannot take information when it is handed out.

My belief is that if you know something it should be shared and both sides of an argument aired.

I think the whole thing is terrible... mental health is a sham. Corruption is rife in the system - all trusts have an anti-corruption units now.

they just plug with drugs - its a power and money trip. They are not interested in people for any purpose other than that.

 

[Dollit]

I would willingly join a campaign. I am told often that no matter how bad I get (and I think the time I registered 20% on the GAF scale was pretty bad) that because I have intelligence & insight I will never be hospitalised. It is generally considered that I would come out worse than I went in (this is the opinion of my consultant). If seriously ill people can't get respite from themselves when they need it what use is the system? If we had cancer or something a little more fashionable or marketable then the system would be overhauled immediately, publicly and with great aplomb.

 

[chicken]

Dollit - but that is the whole point. Being a mental health victim puts you in a negative light straight away - no compassion from the start from the system.

I feel my life is ruined - and I am not ill - cause stalked and e-harassed. If I thought I was delusional I'd be the first to admit it

The thread here said it all - can't remember who started it about rating the services. I looked through it - it was so poor, what people gave it - it was frightening. I can understand Anne being frightened. I was too - but, I could have done with a dose of what's real too. Like the real facts.

I found them out through sheer dogged research. I looked everywhere - I mean pretty much most subjects relating to the phenomena. I was a blinkin researcher working at degree level - I have not lost that..... at all

I am at a loss of what to do. So many people know about it that it is scary. I am stuck and tortured daily.

I am shocked by all of it - deeply shocked...

chicken

 

[Dollit]

Chicken your experience may be that there is no compassion in the system or that you are seen in a negative light. The last 3 psychiatrists I have seen (over a period of 15 years) have all treated me with dignity, respect and compassion. The psychatrist I see now is a Consultant Senior Lecturer and he has, with my permission, taped me to use in seminars with his students to show them mental health problems in a positive light. I speak to his students and to the students that shadow the GPs at my local practice. They all make positive comments and impress upon me the need they feel they have to help changes things when they eventually are allowed to practise. There are some appalling places and practitioners out there but not everyone is like that. My consultant is there when I need him - I can email him, phone him, get emergency appointments with him. Similarly my GP. When I needed a psychology referral last year I had an appointment within weeks. I'd like to see everyone have access to the standard of care that we get in this part of Bristol and that's why I'd join a campaign started by this forum.

 

[chicken]

you have been lucky then. I am just speechless about it all. Now that is quite something for me. I read what you wrote and thought how great it must be to have that kind of support. My kooky ideas are not in mainstream medicine and they will sit on the fringe for all eternity probably.

That is when someone busts open this wall of silence......and shows how corrupt the system is

 

[Isobel]

Why do they apparently still regard people with intelligence and insight as though they don't need respite and a place of safety? Being able to express yourself does NOT mean that you are not ill and not able to look after yourself just about enough at home. Obviously I can only speak for myself but whenever I've been admitted I've needed it because I was too much of a risk at home and wasn't eating etc. and even though I hated being made safe the admission did at least do that and let me get past that stage.

The first ward I was on was mixed and there was one guy who would stare at me and play pocket billiards... the next few times were mixed as well but I didn't experience or notice any harassment (they may have been reasons for that!). When there were psychotic people around of either sex it could sometimes be pretty frightening. When people recovered some of their right minds it was OK and normally we all accepted each other on a level. I WISH people could do that in everday life. Everywhere is single sex now, but above all BEDS HAVE BEEN CUT, that's why the wards are so crowded because there are still so many who NEED to be in-patients despite the huge push towards what is laughingly labelled Home Treatment. Even 5 years ago it was very risky to have overnight leave because your bed would have gone when you came back. More recently J had a spate of admissions and got taken everywhere within SLAM because there were practically no beds. Then after a night miles away he would be brought back to the local place and still have no bed, he'd have to sit in the TV room. Later when he was in a dorm. another man got sent on leave to a B&B, and this was a very depressed and unconfident person, how was that supposed to help him.

I think that we DO need wards, BUT they must have better facilities, a higher ratio of nurses to other care workers and staff spending time with patients not just in the office, AND better follow-up and care on discharge. If you haven't been sectioned you won't have a CPA meeting and might have NO follow-up except maybe for an out-patient appointment. This cannot happen without MONEY and plenty of it and mental health services will never get that. Any money there may be always goes to making sure that they cover their backs and avoid terrible headlines when things go badly wrong.

I think that the most important campaign that needs to be waged is to make those with good MH aware that they are as vulnerable as the rest of us (no-one knows where their breaking point is); that they rely on having good MH to live their lives; that if they lose it they will be subject to the system as it exists NOW and that if that is the case then they stand as little chance of reasonable recovery as anyone else. The difficulty is in getting them to take any notice. It is a subject that most people shun because they are afraid. What they don't want to recognise is that their fear comes from ignorance and there is another way of dealing with it, i.e. by EDUCATING themselves. But of course, such education takes effort and there is no tangible incentive to make that effort.

As you may be able to tell, I feel strongly about this and would be glad to join any campaign mounted by this site.

 

[nickh]

Happy to Support

I would be happy to support any such campaigns.

'nuff said