"Inpatient experience at Peter Hodgkinson Centre"

I was admitted to the Peter Hodgkinson Centre with severe depression following the loss of my baby. I was told that I would have a named nurse to support me and draw up a care plan and also a daily 1-2-1 with a nurse on duty.

This is what actually happened. My named nurse would have a brief chat with me while passing me in a corridor and would always promise to draw up my care plan the next time she was on duty as she was too busy now. I finally received my care plan a few days before being discharged. I was in hospital for 4 weeks.

A list would be put up in the dining room informing patients who their 1-2-1 would be with each day. I actually received three 1-2-1's during my stay as the nurses always said they were too busy. This didn't actually bother me as I was too depressed to want to talk anyway. However I did witness other patients crying and distressed, begging for a nurse to talk to which I found horrendous and inhumane.

I felt my consultant who I saw once a week would speak down to me and seemed to treat me like some kind of naughty school child. During 1 meeting, I was so anxious that I could not speak as my mouth became so dry. When I said that I needed a glass of water, my consultant told me that I should have had 1 before the meeting.

A couple of the nurses were nice and supportive but the majority did not seem to be in the slightest bit interested in providing the required care and support of which they are trained and paid to do so. I was even called a stupid cow by 1 of the night nurses and subjected to constant threats of having personal items taken away from me. Overall I found my whole experience at PHC extremely distressing and unhelpful and was made to feel like I was there as a punishment rather then treatment.