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Care Opinion

Breathing Space

Posted By TM68

"Breathing Space"

About: NHS 24 / Breathing Space (Phoneline)

(as a service user),

I've used Breathing Space a few times in the past and generally have found it helpful, especially when there's nowhere else to turn.

I use the webchat function because I cannot make a call. I wonder if mental health support services realise how incredibly difficult/impossible many of find talking and prefer typing?

Anyway, webchat has always been a hit or a miss re availability and I gave up attempting contact some time ago because of this, which was distressing and frightening. 

Last week, I felt close to crisis point. The local CMHT seem completely disinterested and my relationship with my therapist had collapsed. I had absolutely nowhere to turn and I was frightened by the direction of my thoughts.

It took me 4 days of trying during the webchat window to see the magical "available to chat" icon which gave me a sense of relief. The chat interface has changed and it became impossible to have a conversation with the advisor (who seemed very good as most are) because every time I clicked "send", the cookie pop-up came across the screen. I found that turning my phone seemed to help but it became hugely distressing and completely ruined my ability to communicate with the advisor. I did inform him of the problem which he said would be noted but when I tried to tell him I couldn't continue with the chat because I was becoming so upset, the message would not send and I had to, after at least 12 attempts, click the "end chat" option. By this time, I was incredibly anxious and distressed...with nobody to talk to.

This change in interface could have had tragic consequences as I really was at the end of my tether after days and days of trying to access help.

There used to be an immediate feedback option which now doesn't seem to exist so this seems my only way of communicating how this software change may cause harm.

Seeking mental health support is difficult enough. I truly believe I'll never use Breathing Space again. They've saved my life on one occasion at least. Please don't tell me contact Samaritans etc because I don't trust them. 

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Responses

Response from Shona Lawrence, Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care, NHS 24 7 months ago
Shona Lawrence
Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care,
NHS 24

Submitted on 20/09/2023 at 13:07
Published on Care Opinion at 13:07

picture of Shona Lawrence

Dear TM68

Thank you for sharing your experience on Care Opinion. I read this with great concern and I am sorry to learn of the challenges experienced when using the Breathing Space Webchat Service. Upon receiving your story from Care Opinion, I immediately shared this with senior staff within our Breathing Space Service and also with our Digital colleagues. They have provided some information to assist my response to you.

Firstly, and most importantly, I hope you are doing better. You are absolutely correct when you say that seeking mental health support is difficult. To have the courage to do so is huge, therefore encountering challenges such as those you describe is extremely disappointing, frustrating and leaves a feeling of helplessness which is absolutely understandable. We recognise what you have described is an extremely poor experience and we are very sorry for this. We also recognise that many users of the Breathing Space Service would prefer to communicate via webchat instead of speaking verbally, therefore we are acutely aware of the importance of this service.

We have had some challenges with the Webchat functionality which are currently being addressed. I have been advised the issues with 'lagging' and 'freezing' are due to be rectified by 29th September. We have however asked for this to be expedited sooner. We have also raised an issue with our suppliers in relation to the 'submit' and 'cookie' control issues.

What I have shared above does not detract from the fact that your experience when attempting to seek support via our Webchat facility was extremely poor. I would like to thank you once again for bringing this to our attention and for sharing such a candid story on how this affected you. By way of reassurance, we have had a number of successful Webchat interactions recently which have been beneficial to the service user, therefore currently we do feel it is worth continuing to have this facility available. With the impending 'fixes' we hope all interactions in future will be smooth.

I note your request not to signpost you to the Samaritans and I respect this. I am disappointed and sorry to see you consider you would not use Breathing Space again. We do have a dedicated Mental Health Hub which you may be aware of. This can be accessed by calling NHS 24 on 111 and selecting the Mental Health option. I do hope you seek support when required.

I understand some users of the Breathing Space Service wish to remain anonymous and we absolutely respect this. Should you care to provide any other feedback to us, you can use our feedback form on our website and populate the name section with ANON - Feedback | NHS 24

You can also contact our Patient Experience Team anonymously at Patient.Experience@nhs24.scot.nhs.uk Whilst we may not be able to respond to you if you don’t provide contact details, please be assured we will progress any feedback submitted.

Take care meantime and best wishes.

Shona

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