over heard conversations

[charlie]

All the following have been overheard - staff discussing patients etc..
Posted on our local blog.

Details: Female, took and over dose and admitted to Grantham, now sees CPN at the Willows, a professionals meeting is being held to discuss her.All her children taken into care, 2 are disabled, one with Downs Syndrome looked after by family. Her name was said but I'll not put it up here. I find these over heard conversations very upsetting.Any one any ideas what to do?

Well I was at a meeting and was in the toilet. Over heard some staff being very careless about who they were talking about.Apparently the lady speaking had sacked a member of staff (last year I think) for doing private work in the trust or in the trusts time.It was a male psychologist she was talking about.Also talking about a service user who had PTSD but now thought they had a personality disorder in which case they would at last get rid of her as they no longer treat this. They find her a pain in the back side to summarise what they were saying.In both cases names were mentioned - I know the name of the service user and the psychologist who was sacked.Have you over heard anything interesting? No names please.

I was speaking to my CPN on the phone once and she put the phone down to look for a report. I clearly over heard two other staff in the background discussing a GP who had phoned and asked about a women who was very distressed because her husband had died. They very sarcastically said that did he think they were a bereavement service and they didn't treat bereavement.

I often over hear the receptionists talking about patients.

If you go to meeings representing service users the staff are often very careless about talking about other patients. I have heard lots of things I shouldn't have heard about other patients.
The worst thing I ever overheard was in a toilet in the Lincolnshire Oak in Sleaford. Two staff were discussing a mother who had a son with Turettes and autism. She was apparently a chronic complainer with a very rude know it all husband who was a psychiatrist.And yes I did know the name too and a lot of very personal details.

I was in the waiting room - or entrance hall as it really is- in my clinic and the receptionists were pulling faces and making rude comments about a man who had just gone in to see his nurse. It made me wonder what they would say about me when I went in and I was very upset. Must admit I didn't know the man's name though.

I've had the same as one of the above - I represent service users at various meetings, conferences etc and often over hear the professional staff discussing patients by name.

Well I know that someone in Stamford attacked a psychiatrsit and has been banned from the resource centre. How do I know? The staff were discussing it in the queue in the shop behind me.

Yep - staff are bad at putting the phone down to check things and you can hear conversations in the background. I know that the CAMHS unit get referrals which should have gone to adult services and take ages passing them on to the right service which means the adult service are left with hardly any time to fit the patient in within the set time limits. The certainly do not like this at all judging by the conversation I over heard.

I think I over heard the same conversation from a psycologist as was posted before - heaven help the woman who was raped, lives in Sleaford and has PTSD - they are setting you up as a socopath or something that sounds like that then they are going to declare you untreatable - she has it all worked out -I think a well meaning psychiatrsit played right into her hands as she was very gleeful about the whole thing and that is why psychologists are not the best people to see - after all that is hardly a professional attitude is it. I over heard the bit about sacking her own staff as well - something about private appointments in NHS time.

Any one any ideas what we can do about this without telling the trust who we are.

 

[ramboghettouk]

Thet get reallly nasty when you say mental health workers talking in public places is why your diagnosis etc is all round the area

Heard my gps receptionists discussing one of the womens upstairs boyfriends, i recognise the name.

Then in another area i goi into the pub with a normal friend, i say thats my doctors receptionist in the corner, when i go to order i hear the barman say to the guy in front in the queue "I know you can't beleive everything you read in the papers, biut they seem alright to me, and i'll serve them anyway"

I sat to my friend am i hariing voices he says "I heard it as well and i've never been mentally ill in my life"

I gather now the receptionist had an alky sister who it was cool to tell her my diagnosis, until she's tanked up

When i said elsewhere "how do they find out about the peadophiles" i was accused of comparing myself to a paedophile

 

[Dollit]

If you want to tell the trust about this then set up a hotmail account in a name that is unrecognizable (monkeynuts or something equally bizarre) and send someone and email with the link in.

 

[Lyra]

I think I know one of those people. Should I tell them do you think?

 

[Dollit]

One of which people? The gossipers or the gossiped about? Either the way it should be the trust that is informed.

 

[saffron]

You seem to be over hearing a lot? as a helper your first priority is the patient, I would talk immediately to the people talking out of term and remind them that they are not being very professional and you could make an official complaint.
You could write to the health trust to highlight your position on it. unfortunately without a log or the willingness to name names or stand up legally there is not much they will do about it.

Any formal complaint need all the details including your own, anonymous emails or letters are normally ignored as there is no way of following up the problem.

If you truly think what have overheard or the gossiping is unethical then you have to be the one to tell the people to their face that they are breaking a code of confidentiality, which is very serious.

If you have to report to anyone senior, ask them what they think should be done about it. You obviously find this offensive behaviour., as do we all.

not being funny or having a go at you but your post has revealed much more than needed to us.


take care
S

 

[ramboghettouk]

As one of my friends who worked in a day centre put it they talk about people in the pub, potentially serious, it goes on all the time

As though mental health workers have high ptoffessional standards

 

[Lyra]

I know one of the woman that was being talked about - I'm sure it is her but she would be devastated if she knew staff had talked about her in front of others so I don't think I will say anything.
If it was reported to the Trust, surely the fact that something about one of their own staff was being posted up should make them realise something was going on - after all service users aren't likely to know if and why a memeber of staff was sacked so it must have come from staff.
If you see what I mean

 

[Dollit]

Actually no, I don't see what you mean because they have no way of knowing who told the Trust do they? The important thing is that confidentiality has been breached and that should be dealt with. How would you feel if it was you they were gossiping about? Would you want someone to go to the Trust and tell them? The Trust shouldn't disclose where they got information re the conversation from.

 

[saffron]

I'm sure it is her but she would be devastated if she knew staff had talked about her in front of others so I don't think I will say anything.


Im not sure what you mean by this. Of course you would not say anything to the person being spoken about. But if you are there at the time someone is speaking out of term it is them you should pull up about it.
If you speak to someone in the trust you do not have to name names ect but could be discrete in saying that certain people have been overheard talking about confidential things and that you think it is disrespectful and unprofessional.
It takes people like you to stand up against this behaviour and you are in a very good position to do that.
Good luck and take care
S

 

[charlie]

You seem to be over hearing a lot?
S

I didn't over hear anything - we have a service users blog

http://lpftserviceuser.blogspot.com/

and they were all comments posted by various different people who over heard things - sos you see it goes on a lot.

Ans you daren't complain here either or they make things very difficult for you and it can be hard to get adequate care.

 

[Dollit]

Complain anonymously - it's easy to set up an anonymous hotmail/yahoo/gmail address and post a link to someone at the trust.

 

[mac]

Well they are still at it - I was visiting my psych the other day and stopped to roll up a ciggie before I went out cos it was raining. I over heard a very interesting conversation - a psychologist was going on about a report she had just received about a patient. A woman who had been raped, not responded to treatment and they thought it was because she had a personality disorder - well they have fixed it so she does have one - that was her very words - and now they are going to use this as a reason for her not to get treatment. She does not know she has been assessed for personality disorder so they are going to spring it on her . What disgusted me was the pleasure the psychologist seemed to get in this. She seemed delighted that the poor woman was going to be told this on Monday and seemed to take a lot of delight in "sorting her out and getting rid of her from psychological therapies"
Surely first priority should be in finding a way to help someone, not get rid of them?
Had to move quickly cos they came out of the office and I didn't want them to see me but they shouldn't have been having a conversation like that where they could be over heard.

 

[Dollit]

You have two choices - you either inform the trust or you don't. But to be quite honest repeating the conversations on a forum where anyone who has access to the internet is pretty much the same as the people you're talking about.

Those of us who have replied to this thread have said that it's a situation that must be reported but it's not a situation that should be perpetuated here. Gossip like this isn't good.

 

[ramboghettouk]

Remember when i went to john wilson house for a interview with my care worker, i had been avoiding the place but was hoping it'd help with the benefits

After the interview i was unlocking my bike below the staff room window, i heard the women say "they said he wasn't schitzoprenic then he had a breakdown" then i heard laughter.

The staff room reminded me of the nurses station at highcroft were the nurses would stay all the time, the door is unlocked but loonys are expected to knock and they answer the door, woe betide anyone who walks in, it's by the entrance so they can see who comes and goes, all in all that day centre reminded me of hospital, even the walls were that colour

Got told "your only turning up when you want a benefit form filed in" the sign said resource centre which assumes you can use it as a resource