"Psychiatric Discharge issues"

My son was an inpatient of Carseview Centre, Dundee, from December 2012 to June 2013, and during this time I made some complaints in the early weeks about the psychiatric drug cocktails used, the Mental Health Officer behaviour and the advocacy project. These were dealt with appropriately although I wasn’t always happy with the outcome. However my son was happy with the care he received and I was treated with respect by the clinical staff in the hospital.

I found that I had to help my son complete his benefit forms in the hospital and advocate at meetings when necessary. There seemed to be a lack of support in these areas and therefore patients stayed longer in the ward, according to the social work department who said my son had got discharged much quicker than others usually did. The clinical meetings in the ward were attended by a variety of staff, including social work, but it didn’t appear that they were all knowledgeable about community resources.

Therefore when my son was getting ready for discharge, according to the clinical assessment of his mental health, there was less thought given to the community resources. So when he was discharged into his own accommodation there were no white goods for nearly a month and no access to day services had been arranged. No cooker, fridge or washing machine. It was summer and the milk went off quickly. A very stressful situation.

I spent days and weeks chasing up the resources and his benefits which were also delayed. Not so easy as I don’t live in the same town. My son had spent more than 6 months in the psychiatric ward getting everything done for him and suddenly he was out “in the community” with few resources to hand. It costs £3000 per bed per week for a patient in Carseview (I made an FOI request to NHS Tayside about this) so it makes financial sense, in my opinion, to ensure a smooth transition from hospital to community.

There seemed to be a lack of joined-up working, at times, between health and social care professionals in the Carseview psychiatric situation. As a carer I found that I had to take up the slack at these times, to ensure that my son’s mental health did not deteriorate. It caused us both added stress and I found myself at the receiving end of brusque retorts and defensive attitudes from health and social care professionals.

I do hope that the psychiatric discharge processes have improved and plan to participate in groups where I can share my experiences, for the benefit of others.