Sunday 23 November 2014

If it was a general ward no one would suggest closing it.

A response to their letter from the Trust from another one of our campaigners.

I've head back from my letter.  They're still talking about home treatment being better.  I still say that if this was a general ward, no-one would suggest closing it because more men needed treatment.

Its gone beyond their "Lancashire wide provision" which they are saying in all letters.  They have to rethink their whole strategy of provision of care in Lancashire.  As I said before, 6 women have been sent elsewhere already and its probably more by now.  Do you know if the men's beds have been full up since they did this?  I was in hospital in winter, and the female beds were so full, when I went home on a trial, the bed was swiped!

I was at a Green Party Fayre today, and put it across to a man and put a quick note for their next meeting.  He said he will look into it.  I think he was earnest.

I sent my story with my letters, and they said that they would make exceptional provision if there was a serious family problem that meant local care was needed.  But I fail to see how they can if there is only one woman on the unit.  It also shows that they aren't telling the whole truth.  They also told me that the provision in the community is being made better  - I really think that is a crock of shit!  I'm being treated in the community and all we do is fill in endless forms, which mean nothing to me! 

I'm trying to get support on a mental health forum but only a few are willing to sign a petition as they are mostly very ill people, so not able to help in this.  Its an indictment of the care that they need a good forum to support them - there is so little good care in the NHS.

4 comments:

  1. It's disturbing - if home treatment is better, isn't it better for men and women?! Or is it just women whose special form of mental illness needs to be dealt with at home?

    Very worrying message.

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  2. Well, apparently men suffer more with long winter nights when stats show that SAD tends to affect more women than men, it's clinically appropriate to treat women out of area, but not men and women are better treated at home - presumably where they can carry on with their caring commitments, or more importantly, cost the Trust less money.

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  3. If they are saying men suffer more with long winter nights, why did they close the ward in Burnley when winter was approaching?
    If women would be better treated at home, have they put more money and bodies into the crisis teams to support them?
    I have vivid memories of trying to contact the crisis team, who were so busy that they couldn't come out, resulting in an enforced visit to hospital followed by inpatient care.

    How does the 'women would be better treated at home', match up with the idea that it's better to send women away from the local area?

    Do the further away places they send women have provision for men? If so, why not send the men?
    If not, why not make them have provision since there is evidently need for male beds?

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  4. Thanks for your comment. Some of our FOI requests have been about whether the Crisis Teams in the areas where bed closures have taken place were augmented to deal with the increased number of people to be treated in the community. We have also asked for the current and planned numbers, taking into consideration the DoH ordered cuts that the Trust is working towards.

    Our experiences are similar to yours. A hard working, but very overstretched team, particularly over night where there may well be only one person on duty and that person is in another town meaning that A&E may be the only course of action for someone who finds themselves ill.

    Community care is great, but its hit and miss and its not suitable for everyone. We know it, so are baffled as to why the Trust finds it so hard to acknowledge this truth.

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