Hello, my name
is Debby and I am diagnosed with bipolar disorder. When I took a
massive OD and ended up on ICU for 2 weeks, I was admitted afterwards
to psychiatric hospital. I live in Morecambe which is right next
door to Lancaster. There were no beds at the old unit, Ridge Lea in
Lancaster, so I was moved to Chorley which is an hour's drive away.
I have no problem in my treatment there, but I was isolated from my
husband, children and extended family and friends. Most of the time
they could not afford to visit very often to see me.
This increased
my distress a great deal and meant that at a highly vulnerable time,
I had no advocate who could help me express my wishes and needs. A
psychiatric patient often can't talk, or think clearly or be
articulate by the nature of their problem. So decisions were made
which worried me, such as changing my anti depressants which entailed
coming off the other ones. This made the severe depression become
far more dangerous and suicide was a clear risk.
I was alone with
no-one I knew to support me. When my family visited, no psychiatrist
was available to question what had happened to cause my recent break
down, what stresses I was under, how I had behaved in the run up to
this, and any number of other issues that were vital to my care. I
can't stress this enough, this proved to be very dangerous and a
major impact on how I was treated.
As I slowly
improved enough, I was permitted off the ward. But I didn't know the
place or any person around me. It held back my recovery. My husband
was severely ill, in hospital, and eventually died whilst I was in
hospital. When at Chorley, I couldn't visit him or support him at
all. This was devastating emotionally and my fear for his safety was
terrible, increasing my depression, if that was possible.
Eventually, I
was transferred to Ridge Lea in Lancaster and the difference was
astonishing. My daughter could be my advocate, explain how I was
when normal, that I tended to smile a lot and be concerned for others
welfare, but for staff to not believe that. She stood up for me when
the medication changed and helped me to be able to engage with my own
care. She also explained that I hallucinated but hid this – which
came as surprise to the professionals, as that hadn't been passed
over to them from Chorley. If there were any issues, she could get
there very quickly and help to resolve them.
Ridge Lea was
almost all communal, apart from the bed rooms, but there was nothing
to stop males wandering into the female area. I saw men who were
very ill and aggressive, but never once felt at risk or in danger.
The staff were more than able to manage this. Not once did a man
wander into the women's bed area - not once.
I could now
visit my husband daily as I had family to be with me whilst out of
the unit. This was vital as he was dying and I would have been
unable to be with him in his last days if I had stayed in Chorley.
The horror of that is beyond words. He died whilst I was on the
unit. The despair not only of the patient, but also the family, if
they cannot see each other regularly cannot be stressed enough.
When discharged,
I was able to be cared for in the community immediately with a full
handover and liaison between the hospital and the community. If I
had been far away from Lancaster, this could have compromised my care
as there wouldn't have been the connection between the hospital
consultant and the community one, who meet often and discuss patients
they have in common. This is vital.
The system in
the hospitals is that once information has been transferred from one
to the next, the computer prevents them adding anything to it and the
system closes down that connection. I learned this when Ridge Lea
tried to ask an OT who had spent a long time with me in Chorley, to
send them her report. It wasn't possible, so all that information
was lost. This will happen every time if women are bussed to other
units in Lancashire. If the community psychiatrist needs to ask
specific details later, it will rely on a member of staff in the
other unit firstly remembering the patient and secondly being able to
find that information. The chance of this is remote.
Having been in
the situation of being in two units, I can give a very clear example
of what happens when a woman is separated from their community. I
cannot believe that the women's beds have been removed, it is a
ridiculous situation, imposed from on high, without any consultation
with professionals, but more importantly, patients themselves. This
is dictatorship and a cruel thing to implement – utterly cruel!
I was four
months in hospital and never once had an issue with male patients in
either unit. I also saw two thirds more women to men during that
entire stay and talking to other women who had spent time in the
units, this was very common.
This is sexist.
If it was about race, there would be an outrage, quite rightly. But
its OK to do it based on gender? Yet again women are being punished,
treated like second class citizens with this action. I am wondering
if it comes under the sex equality legislation and is illegal. Its a
step which the even the Victorians would not have done! I can't
think of a more obvious example of discrimination against women. If
men are violent, they should be on a medium secure unit anyway. By
the way, the vast majority of staff in these units are women – or
has that point escaped anonymous pen pushers at the top of system?
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