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I'm worried I will be too ill to help myself

Posted By sleeplessinNottingham

"I'm worried I will be too ill to help myself"

About: Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust / Adult Mental Health Services - Community (County) Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust / Perinatal – Community

(as the patient),

After being cared for by the Nottinghamshire Mental Health Perinatal Team for the year after my baby was born, I was due to be transferred to the adult services team- it was June. I was assured that there would be a transition period as I find it hard to trust new members of staff.

However I was discharged by the perinatal team (who had provided with outstanding care and support) and told the adult team would be in touch shortly.

After 3 months left unsupported, I eventually got an appointment through for another 3 months time – December of the same year. By this time I would have been left for 6 months with no point of contact in mental health services, despite my serious and long-term diagnosis. Luckily I’d been OK up to this point, but if I hadn’t have been? ? ?

Just before the appointment was due, a secretary informed me they would have to cancel it and I should await a new appointment. This eventually came through for the following April. During this time things started to fall apart and I tried to seek help. I had no contacts for any of the community teams as I had not yet been seen by anyone. In desperation I contacted the Crisis Team directly – they called me back to say they had my records (due to previous help) however “they were unable to help me at this time. ” I should also mention that my GP was away so it was not an option to go there either.

I also contacted “Wellness in Mind” to try and access help but after an initial phone call they said they would ring me back on a specific day but they never did.

I had a call to say they had to cancel my appointment this April.

- I feel my care was abruptly stopped and I have been left with nowhere to go for help.

- There doesn’t seem to be anything available to me despite a bi-polar diagnosis and 3 in-patient stays in the last 3 years.

- I’m on lots of high dose medication that the locum GP is unwilling to change.

- I’m worried I’ll get to the point where I’m too ill to be able to get help myself – then what?

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Responses

Response from Andy Sirrs, Service Manager, IAPT, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust 6 years ago
Andy Sirrs
Service Manager, IAPT,
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Submitted on 28/04/2017 at 09:07
Published on Care Opinion at 10:22

Dear sleeplessinNottingham

I am pleased to hear that you had a good experience with the Perinatal team and of the outstanding care and support they provided. However I am disapointed that your transfer of care did not go as planned and that you have experienced delays in accessing further support which have been further complicated by having a locum GP.

I would be grateful if you could contact me on 0115 9691300 so we can discuss your experience further with a view to resolving this situation.

Best wishes

Andy Sirrs

Service manager

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by sleeplessinNottingham (the patient)

I appreciate you taking the time to reply but I don't think the service has a full grasp of what living in a mental health perpetual hell is like in reality.

It can take people months/weeks/days to build up the strength and confidence to make a phone call to ask for help. It may not even be clear that they are asking for help right away. It is really very hard to verbalise the thoughts and feelings we have a lot of the time. So "yeay me" I asked for help like I've always been told to. It is instantly deflating when you are told "no" "can't do anything" "try back later" etc.

So maybe or maybe not you give it another go... But no - another closed door. you start scrapping around online trying to find what you need or anything that might help and it's always "No," "Sorry", "Try to help yourself"

So no, there is no way I'm going to try and contact you or anyone again to ask for help. After 11 long months I've lost the faith. I'm educated, in a professional role, assertive and normally good at getting myself across to senior people. If I can't access help through the system then how is anyone else supposed to be able to?

I just really want services to understand that I've been failed in a big way.

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