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Care Opinion

Crisis Care

Posted By madperson

"Crisis Care"

About: Adult Mental Health Crisis Services / Crisis Team County South Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust / Adult Mental Health Services - Community (County)

(as a service user),

I have been having a problem with the County Crisis team’s new telephone system for a while but last night at 4am I was able to get through

I was in acute distress and needed support to stay safe. I left a message for them to call me back as per my crisis plan.

I rang again just after 7am and left another message - no one seems to answer the phones ever and the wait for the answer phone is long and painful. I left another message.

Just after 9am I rang and spoke to a call handler who informed me that someone had tried to ring me back but couldn’t connect. He read out a number that wasn’t mine. I have a land line and a mobile that the crisis team usually try.

So I’ve been trying to get through to my mental health team. No one is answering their phones either. A few weeks ago I rang for 2 hours on a Friday between 3 and 5pm and not once did anyone answer the phone.

My crisis plan is not working and I don’t feel safe or supported.

I’m upset and suicidal today and need some help. I think I need to forget the mental health service and just ring 111 or 999.

I am just trying to follow my crisis plan and to get the support I need

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Responses

Response from Jane Danforth, Involvement & Experience Officer, Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Team, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust 12 months ago
Jane Danforth
Involvement & Experience Officer, Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Team,
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Hello, my name is Jane Danforth. My role involves helping our service users, volunteers and staff to understand that Notts Healthcare wants to hear stories about our services. We reply to every story and it really helps us to improve what we do, how we do it and to hear about what works well too.

Submitted on 06/04/2023 at 14:26
Published on Care Opinion at 14:26

picture of Jane Danforth

I was so sorry to read about your experience with the County Crisis team’s new telephone system and so far I've been unable to contact someone to get back to you but that doesn't mean we are not listening to you.

It must be so distressing to keep on trying to contact someone and not receive a call back particularly when you are feeling upset and unsafe.

Please be reassured, several staff members receive alerts on Care Opinion linked to the service you have been trying to make contact with. I'm hoping that someone will read this response via an alert and be reminded to check the messages you left about your crisis plan and also about your feedback on the lengthy procedure you describe when leaving an answerphone message.

Thank you for your feedback, without it, we can't improve and it's important to know this.

Once more, please accept my apology.

Kind Regards

Jane

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Response from Michael Taylor, Service Manager, Adult Mental Health County, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 12 months ago
Michael Taylor
Service Manager, Adult Mental Health County,
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 11/04/2023 at 11:56
Published on Care Opinion at 11:56

Dear madperson,

Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on the crisis telephone system and I apologise for the experience you have had. Unfortunately, this is an ongoing issue as we are currently using an interim telephone system including the answerphone. We are doing our utmost to sort this issue, alongside our Information Technology colleagues however sourcing a new system for telephony is a long process. I am aware that our service users must wait an extended period of time prior to being able to leave an answerphone message and I will speak with the service providers to hopefully reduce this length of time.

Please continue to use our service and I hope you had a response to the answerphone messages that you left. If you would like to discuss this further please contact me via michael.taylor2@nottshc.nhs.uk

Yours sincerely

Michael Taylor

Service Manager

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Response from Amy Palmer, Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Lead, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 6 months ago
We are preparing to make a change
Amy Palmer
Involvement, Experience and Volunteering Lead,
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

My role is to encourage and help staff to capture, respond and act upon feedback, to work together with patients and carers to improve services and to raise awareness of volunteering and its benefits within the trust.

Submitted on 25/10/2023 at 11:13
Published on Care Opinion at 11:33

picture of Amy Palmer

Hi Madperson,

I am responding again to your story to let you know that we are working to set up a new Clinical Access Line which will in future take all 111 Mental Health Crisis Calls. As part of this work we are really keen to hear directly from people who have used the Crisis phone line about their experiences, both positive and negative and what changes they feel we could make to the service to improve this experience moving forwards.

If this is something you would be interested in being involved with you can find more information here: Involvement Partner Opportunities – Notts Healthcare Involvement, Experience and Volunteering (nottshc.nhs.uk) or you can e-mail Involve@nottshc.nhs.uk to find out more.

Thank you again for taking the time to share your experience with us, by doing so you allow us to try and make changes that will hopefully result in an improved service for all.

Best wishes,

Amy.

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