Is this really our last refuge?

LCFT Use a Women's Refuge for female service user in MH Crisis.

The demand for beds in North Lancashire continues unabated, with female referrals now matching those of men.  With the Trust's inpatient facilities full and a substantial number of private beds being used, getting inpatient treatment is now almost impossible.
  
Yesterday a female service user from North Lancashire was sent to a women's refuge after being told there were no female beds available anywhere.  Even though she has a chronic mental health condition and was experiencing psychotic symptoms brought on by stress, she was assessed as "too sane" to be admitted to a private bed and since the stress was due to issues within the home, the only place they could send her to was a woman's refuge.

Is this what it's come to?  Really?

Is a refuge really the right place for someone experiencing a mental health crisis?  Would a man be sent to a refuge, or would he be found a bed somewhere?  It's a damned serious question and one that has to be asked.

Women's refuges are such an important resource.  For a Mental Health Trust to use them as a back up to a service creaking under the strain of inadequate provision would seem to be a misuse of that service.

Having spoken to the woman in question, she is concerned about relapsing and knows there is nothing she can do, as there's literally no room at the LCFT Inn.

Je Suis Charlie

This is, of course, a blog about how psych services have let down women.  However the events of this week have touched a very personal nerve for me.  It involves my love of satire, freedom of expression and French cartoonists.  My French is a bit rusty, so I give my apologies, but it seems appropriate that I post this in the language it should be. This isn't about BITO. It's a bit more personal than that.

Je ai été un grand fan de caricaturistes français pendant une longue période . Dès les premiers instants , je ai lu Astérix en anglais comme un enfant , à Spirou en français comme une jeune fille de Fluide Glacial dans mon adolescence .

Mes étagères à la maison sont stockés avec des albums de bandes dessinées . Je Stock sur eux chaque fois que je vais à la France, comme d'autres personnes se approvisionner en vin. Je les ai dans ma collection de livres iTunes . Ils ont été une partie constante de ma vie , quoique que la plupart des gens autour de moi dans le juste ne obtiennent pas .

Alors que Private Eye remplit un petit écart dans l'année, il ya toujours un désir de certains bandes de style français appropriées Dessine que les romans graphiques et les bandes dessinées du Royaume-Uni et des États-Unis ne semblent pas être en mesure d'égaler . Les dessins animés et leur humour me touchent d'une manière qui me ramène tout au long de ma vie pour la première fois je ai ramassé Astérix - et bien sûr , Tintin Belge.

Je espère transmettre mon amour pour eux à mes enfants . Ma fille tente déjà de chanter en français à Mylene Farmer, alors peut-être il ya espoir.

Malgré mon amour pour eux tout au long des années , je ne me attendais pas à voir le jour où certains de mes bien-aimés caricaturistes seraient tués pour dessiner une image que quelqu'un d'autre ne aimait pas .

La liberté de parole . La liberté d'expression . Je ai le droit de vous offenser . Vous avez le droit d'être offensé .

Personne ne devrait mourir pour un dessin et personne ne devrait avoir à arrêter de dessiner au cas où ils meurent .

Laissez le stylo être plus puissante que l' épée.

Je suis Charlie

Philippa

Happy New Year - Where are those pesky beds?

It's been a while since we've blogged and been on the BITO campaign trail.  We've had a good few weeks off for Christmas, but are firmly back on the campaign trail from today.

So where are we up to?

The beds at The Orchard unit are still all male.  The Trust tried to empty the female ward of the men to reopen them to women and had got down to one last bed, but a huge flurry of male admissions over the weekend before Christmas meant that it was a no go.  Information from our supporters show that there were some women who had been expecting to be closer to their families at Christmas and were disappointed. 

So are we.  Very disappointed.

It seems that it's impossible to treat men in the community.  That needs looking at, it really does.  It feels almost impossible to get a bed when you're a woman,  but impossible to keep men out of hospital.  Why is the community care failing like that?  More on that in later posts.

Our spokeswoman has been in contact with the Trust on a regular basis and says that they are still working towards re-opening the beds to women as soon as possible.  It's all a bit secret squirrel,  but we'll keep you updated.  We just want them to get on with it now!

Some LOVELY news

A lovely person on twitter has nominated BITO for the Deputy PMs Mental Health Heroes award!

A chance for us to address our issues and speak about our campaign and the Trust with the deputy PM in person would be AMAZING.

As for LCFT, no publicity is bed, sorry, I mean bad publicity. 

Its the BITO Christmas Night Out!

Tonight the Beds in the Orchard team are on their way out to celebrate what has been a very successful few weeks of very hard work. 

This is the part where we all can join together and have some fun, especially for those of us who've not been able to join in the coffee and cake-fest that has been the cornerstone of a lot of the campaign team's involvement.

We're looking forward to a night of good food, good company and probably fizzy stuff to celebrate Christmas and the campaign in general.

Let the good times roll!

We're on the last straight and close to the finish!

Has it all gone quiet at Beds in the Orchard?  Not really, there's just a lot going on in the background.

The past week or so has been busy for the Beds in the Orchard team, but mainly in preparing for Christmas rather than campaigning for beds.  The Christmas trees are up, the lights are shining and the presents mostly wrapped.  Of course the main present that we want is the return of the beds to women.

So, is this going to happen?

Yes and sooner than The Harbour opening.  This is a big change from a couple of weeks ago when the Trust looked into whether they could swing the beds back and reported that it wasn't possible.  Now the information is that the CCG has said that they need to be returned to female before The Harbour opens and they are working hard for that to happen.

This is good news and there has been a lot of excitement among the team because someone from LCFT said that it would be by Christmas, but as usual there is a difference between the message via the official route and the information given to someone involved with the Campaign by other LCFT staff.

One person had a member of LCFT on speakerphone so they and their friend heard that person tell them both that the beds would definitely be open by Christmas.  The Official line from LCFT via our spokesperson is that its only a Maybe by Christmas as there are a lot of things that need doing and that the person from LCFT hadn't said it was for definite.

So who is right?
Two people heard the man from LCFT say it was for definite.  The same man has said via the official line that they didn't say it was for definite.  We think there's a bit of ass covering going on there to be honest.  One person getting the wrong end of the stick, fine, but two.  Big. Fat. HMMMMMMM. So while we agree that no one misheard what they were told over the phone, it just wasn't true and shouldn't have been said.


However this is not the important stuff! 


The important thing is that they are actually trying to reopen the beds to women by Christmas.  They can't guarantee it as it will take a lot for this to happen and sometimes these things just aren't possible.

So via our OFFICIAL LINE.

1. They are trying to close down the beds to men in order to reopen them to women. 
2. They have people who are in private beds at the moment at its important to get them back into Trust Beds.
3. They are looking into ways to reduce male admissions.
4. They have managed a small reduction at the Orchard to free up a bed.
5. They are doing what they can but can't guarantee it, so hopes should not be got up.

This smells of success!
BUT While it looks like we're going to be successful, we're not going to have any grand announcements until we have them back for sure and we know they won't be returned to men as soon as we turn our backs.

A lot of work has gone into this campaign. Some people have joined in close to the end and their input has been great, but this has been a long slog since October when we first heard about the closure.  Its taken hard work, time, lots of investigation, FOI requests, lots of legal advice and communication with the press.  We're bloody proud of what we've achieved, but there's no way that we're going to announce a victory before we've actually won for real.

So as we are down to the last bit of the whole campaign, we are going to hand over the keys to Philippa, the campaign spokesperson and founder along with Lisa and Roz, the managers and bloody scary women to deal with the Trust, so we can get on with enjoying Christmas and not get over excited before we actually get the beds back.

They'll keep you all updated, Officially updated and hopefully the news will be good and soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

Lancaster Guardian Once More...

Beds in the Orchard went back into the Lancaster Guardian for the second time today.

If you're a regular follower of this blog, you may remember our first mention in the Lancaster Guardian where we were told that the closure to women was because of those long dark winter nights.

Things have moved on a lot since then, but we kept in contact with the Guardian and they decided to talk more about our campaign in today's edition.  We made it onto the front page, no less, and the full article is here - Won't take bed battle lying down.

We'd like to thank both Rebecca Wilkinson and Philippa Molloy for speaking out so clearly about what this campaign means to us and why we are fighting on. 

A lot of the article focuses on how we believe that the Trust did not adhere to the Equality Act when making the decision.  This is something that our MP David Morris is taking up for us.  The Trust believe they have adhered to the act, but the truth will be in the detail.

While you don't need to do a full Equality Impact Assessment or consultation for a temporary decision, we have been advised that you do still need to pay due regard to the Act and be able to provide the documentation showing how such due regard was taken.  Without such documentation indirect discrimination will have occurred.

As the Trust have been unable to show that such due regard has taken place, or provide the details of why they believe such due regard did not have to take place, our position remains the same.  Hopefully this is something that will be clarified one way or another through our MP.

Our spokesperson is still working with the Trust and has been in contact with them this week, although the feedback from her is that its "in progress" we expect that there will be further updates as time goes on.

Judicial Review - you win some, you lose some.

Today we had some bad news regarding our taking the Trust to court for Judicial Review.

The rules for Judicial Review state that the claim has to be brought within 3 months of the decision being made.

Recent information provided to us states that the decision was made in August and unfortunately that means we have missed the window of opportunity by a few weeks.

While we're obviously disappointed by this, we still send our thanks to Irwin Mitchell and Partners in Manchester who spoke to us about the case and gave us a lot of advice for free.

While it is incredibly frustrating that we can't take the more formal channel of action on this occasion, we are not wholly disappointed.  We still showed that the Trust was unable to supply any documentation about due regard to the Equality Act 2010 when asked.

You win some, you lose some, but we shall carry on.