Woeful mental health care ...

There is no adequate mental health care in this country. Never has been.

So sorry for those whose loved ones need help and support and don't get it.

Whilst I totally understand your pain and frustration I want to say a word of support for the mental health workers of this country The service has been woefully neglected over the years and governments have never seen it as a priority it is run down, it is dreadfully lacking in money and nothing is ploughed into it, that's why you can can get help for physical illness easier than mental health If you add to this the dreadful amount of form filling and report writing to prevent you (the mental health nurse) being in court accused of a death
There are no beds available for people needing inpatient nursing they have all been closed down in the quest to keep people ' in the community' and to save money' A nurse can spend all day ringing around the country to find a bed maybe hundreds of miles away a precious day that could have been spent with the patient The red tape increases each year and the staff numbers and the beds decrease rapidly
If you add to this equation the fact that many mental health problems can be tied up with drink or drugs ( which need but doesn't often get) different input

The front line workers are on their knees but get nothing but the blame for the woeful lack of funds They are blamed by the relatives and by the managers and judged by the country it's a thankless job and often takes years and years to manage a patient ...lthere are no quick fixes in mental health you can't put a plaster on it like in the general hospital
I do hope your son gets the help he needs and I can honestly feel for you but I know how wrung out and ill many of the workers are getting

You have my utmost sympathy. Trying to get help for someone with a serious mental health condition is almost impossible. The amount of bungling inefficiency in this sector has to be seen first hand to be believed and people are dying because of the failure to provide adequate care.

The unbearable stress on families trying to get help for their loved ones is apalling. No-one has to fight to receive care for a physical health problem, why should it be any different for a mental illness?

The word mental asylum has negative connotations yet their purpose was to offer refuge to those who needed it. When they were closed down nothing was put in place to support and care for those who needed help. I can't imagine why it was felt that 'care in the community' could ever work. It's an astonishing underestimate of the sort of care a severe mental health condition requires. It's like sending a terminally ill cancer sufferer home with a few tablets and maybe a visit by the district nurse once every few weeks.

I think that it would be a major step forward to build new mental health asylums giving safety and care to those who need it. Massive funding needs to be put into a country-wide programme.

You can't treat people with mental health problems the same as you can those wth a physical illness. You cannot see or measure how a mental health problem is progressing, or otherwise. There are no scans, X-rays, blood tests, etc for monitoring such conditions.

Appointments with mental health professionals don't often reveal the extent of the problem as it's an inexact science and depends so much on the experience or ability of the professional and how much the patient is able or willing to cooperate.

It relies on the patient to take their medication, which may or may not work anyway and on other people to support that person. Many have no support in place.

It's a shambles, but I'm not sure what can be done to improve it.

I entirely agree with BlueBelle. Most staff in mental health services work their socks off while hide bound by endless paperwork and extreme lack of funding. It's a very difficult area to try to work in. Getting the right help can vary enormously from episode to episode and can depend so much on individual staff members care, commitment and experience. Many are now quite burnt out from years of bearing the brunt of underfunding leading them to be blamed by the families that they know they are letting down. and

l completely agree with Bluebelle too. Many mental health workers do a sterling job, but the resources are not there.. It seems some understanding is beginning to grow in society,but money is still very lacking. I feel my son has been put to so much unnecessary pain which at times has simply been caused by lack of information sharing between professionals.

People are working their socks off; but until there are more of them, or some coherent plan for mental health care, they will be pissing in the sea.

A close relative has mental health problems and frequently has meltdowns. During the last one she was bashing her head on the walls and car windscreen, threatening suicide etc. so the "Crisis Team" was called. They declared that they could not help as she was not registered with them. Duh!?

We were told to call the police if necessary.

It really is an area that needs more investment. I'm sure the police have enough on their own plates
I watched an episode of '999' a while back, and it was about mental health problems
People who were obviously having the most horrendous times were discharged from hospital a few hours after being taken in.. such a terrible pity.

Mental hospitals were closed and 'care in the community' came in. Many councils provided houses where three or four people with mental illness could live, but the public fought to have them closed ,NIMBY.

Mental health nursing is not top of the list for a profession in health care . and we have become a self centred society.

I attended so many meetings where closure of long term hospitals were planned with relish. The belief that 'the community' would provide the ideal location for so many tortured souls had me incandescent with rage at times. There is so much to be said for the old fashioned sounding 'asylum' with its true meaning of a refuge.
On out patients clinic days I would often be tripping over long suffering policemen in the waiting room frequently handcuffed to very disturbed people. It was scary and intimidating for the patients who had come to see me. I have to say though that some of the policemen were very kind and had a good way with some of their captives. Not all of them of course.

I have to say that the one group of people who have really been there for my troubled relative is the police. They have been unfailingly polite, concerned and caring - and above all full of common sense. They have also been horrified on many occasions at the absence of true joined up care; and indeed it was a policewoman who convened the much needed multi-disciplinary meeting which eventually unlocked some help.

my friend works in mental health care in Canada ,she works from a surgery which has over 35000 patients she runs mindfulness workshops as well as the "usual" clinics and personal sessions.She intends to visit here perhaps 6 weekly and offer her mindfulness workshops to mental health patients who need the facility.I dont have mental health issues ,my daughter suffers badly from depression...allied to a chronic health problem and she found the mindfulness helpful when our friend has been here .Its unconventional but sometimes approaching things differently from the norm is the best way.My friend is in discussions with the local health board about them utilising her services to train the mental health personnel they already have .She wa sfor a very long time the highest qualified in her field in Canada

'Mindfulness' is not particularly unusual here and classes and groups are already available.

maybe in Edinburgh Jane10 but not in our neck of the woods

Long day. Dr has clearly looked at his notes which does make a difference, but DS is being referred out of burrough for next steps ...all money related decisions ..and no guarantee that previous healthcare people will take him back on. Waded through long and complex benefit claim forms ...mashed my head so don't know how he would have managed alone. Feel we have made some baby steps. Making my way back to Kent. Hot bath and a glass of wine very welcome this evening!!!

BlueBelle is right, mental health workers are struggling with a system that has let everyone down. There are not enough emergency beds, hospitals and Mental Health Units have closed down across the country. Many people with mental health issues need a place of safety where they can get treatment as Jane10 said. So called Care in the Community has failed on so many levels.

Whilst mindfulness classes may work for some illnesses, for serious mental health conditions they are of absolutely no use whatsoever.

I support what has been said by those on here who have worked in mental health.
I had some experience in the old hospital-type institutions, and in spite of their reputation and many problems they were a haven for people who could never cope in the outside world. In spite of modern drugs, there are still people who need that security.
Later I worked in mental health of children and adolescents and at the time, and in our area, the facilities were quite good. I don't know what has happened to them since then (1990)

paddyann I meant that there's lots of training available re mindfulness and no reason for someone to come over from Canada to teach on it!

Oriel of course mental ill health is enormously diverse. A wide range of interventions should be available from medication to the various talking treatments and all points in between.

As others have indicated, the police are picking up a lot of the slack, and often have to resort to accommodating people with mental health issues in their cells, not because they have committed a crime, but simply because there is nowhere else for them to go. This can mean that they then have to scout around looking for somewhere to put the people who do come under their remit and should be in those cells.

My uncle spent nearly all his adult life in one of the old style asylums. It was his home and refuge - he felt safe there and would never have coped out in the community.

Apparently there is a shortage of money in the sector and yet, having worked in some of the private facilities used by the NHS huge sums are spent on some very shoddy provisions.

The people at the coal face are doing sterling work, and the police do their best but really the whole thing needs an urgent shake up.

There are just too many calls on the services now, people with anxiety and depression can self refer to many services CBT and Mindfulness, howeve addictions and their aftermath have very little support, and are a problem that we did not have in anything like the numbers we have now 20 years ago, they are a whole tranche of care need that existing fundong cannot cover adequately.

Until we can persuade people to take better care of themselves, the mentally ill are going to be under resourced, as the tidal wave of anxious people and addicts impinge on the availabe resources.

Shortage of money yes. My DS was referred back to a different authority yesterday with no guarantee he will eventually be seen and reassessed, but because the authority he has moved into has no money for the service he requires. He needs a medical review which is becoming increasingly urgent and most likely 1:1 therapy - provided in the past, now maybe not.

So we watch and wait and support - not easy because we are not local and this has already meant expense re visits - more to come no doubt. And we hope he doesn't worsen in the meantime. But it feels like (at least) a month of his life is on hold. And it is not easy for him to try to be positive when the message he is getting is 'You are not important enough to help.' And meanwhile, we worry that because he is not in work and the benefits system is so tight, he may also lose his home and his hard won independence which will no doubt hamper his recovery.

He is just one of thousands. Not an addict, not a substance abuser, but someone who suffers acutely from anxiety and depression at times and has been suicidal in the past, who cannot get access to the help he needs to make him better.

I know nothing is going to change quickly or easily, but I often have that phrase 'blood on their hands' running through my head when I think of the policy makers. I hope to God, it is not my son's blood.

Sorry that this is so stark. I am not writing to ask for support or sympathy. I just feel this widening problem of woefully inadequate support needs recognition. The government spews out figures to say they are putting more money and more resources in, but - as for so many areas of the NHS, the reality is that it is not enough.