"My son's stay at Samphire ward"

My son has spent the last six months at Samphire ward .It was a very traumatic and confusing time for the whole family. For many patients and carers entering an acute 'mental' ward is an alarming and alien world. As the months past I began to appreciate and admire the care this ward provided noting how ALL the staff worked together caring for all their patients.

On occasions there were some noisy , obusive and patients who seemed to disrupt the continuity of the ward, these patients were always well treated and eventually removed .

I complained once that there were no pictures, photos or homey objects around. Later I realised that images can be upseting for patients and accepted this.

The ward is clean and bright. The televison was not blarring out the whole time. There were times when I noticed that the ward was quiet and staff were sitting with patients having conversations.

Every effort was made to encourage my son to take part in the wards many activites as well as trying to find things to help him indivudually.

I want to give a huge thank you to the nursing staff, OT's and Doctors who spent time, often going over the call of duty to help my son, and me, deal with what was going on clinically. Also the staff behind the scenes, those who cook and clean were always friendly and caring.

At times I needed more contact about what was going on and replys to phone messages.

A way of introducing family and carers support by encouraging them to help out in the ward in simple ways might be useful?