"Treatment of a family member"

A family member has been living with mental health problems for a number of years which have recently worsened. 

Following a suicide attempt, they were admitted to Wishaw General Hospital and released 2 days later after being assessed by mental health specialists.

I received a phone call from the family member to pick them up and I was immediately concerned as the conversation led me to believe that there was still a lot of confusion, irrational thinking and paranoia.

I raised my concerns via a phone call to the mental health specialist, who was extremely defensive, confrontational and unwilling to take my concerns on board. The line was that they had done their assessment and felt my relative was fit to go home. I was questioned about who put me through to their phone line and told that I shouldn't have been allowed to call them, this was a bigger concern to them than the mental health issues I was raising. I informed them again that I didn't feel it was safe to go home and said I would be going to A&E if they were unwilling to help with my concerns. I was told they can't carry out another assessment within 24 hours and the conversation ended. 

Upon collecting my relative, it was clear that they were not fit to go home and we went straight from the ward to A&E, where they were treated for a panic attack and made to wait for 8 hours before being assessed by a doctor.

The doctor advised us that it was unlikely that the mental health team would say anything different from their colleagues but they could ask the question about a second assessment. This was extremely unprofessional as there was absolutely no way they could have known what the second assessment would show and we had basically been told that they would back up their colleagues regardless of what they found. I feel this second assessment should have been carried out without any bias or attempt to cover something that was missed by their colleagues.

The second assessment was completed and it was decided that my relative would be discharged. I again raised concerns about safety, irrational thinking, paranoia and other issues which were very evident but appeared to be getting ignored to fit the narrative of the original assessment being 100% correct. 

My relative was sent home in a state of extreme distress with a prescription for a large amount of the medication they had originally overdosed on. It had only been 48 hours since they took the overdose and they were being sent home fully equipped and, in my opinion, in the same mindset to attempt it a second time. 

My relative was assessed by a community mental health doctor and the contrast in care could not have been anymore evident. Within a very short time, the doctor had identified that antipsychotic medication was necessary. It was very evident to the doctor that my relative was suffering from irritational thoughts, was extremely paranoid, and may still be a suicide risk. We were given very strict instruction on how to deal with the situation and keep them safe.

I strongly believe that the first assessment carried out at Wishaw General was extremely sloppy, and I'm unsure how any professional could have deemed it safe to send them home when a member of the public with no medical training whatsoever could identify the risk over a phone call. In my view, the outcome of the second assessment was decided before they had even entered the room to carry it out, and it would back up whatever their colleagues had originally written. 

It absolutely astounds me that this situation was allowed to occur and I dread to think how many other people have been discharged with missed warning signs and enough medication to make a second suicide attempt.