"More emphasis needs to be into this type of care"

I hurt my back over 18 months ago that was unoperable. I was an in patient for over 6 weeks all together at Borders General. Since then I have suffered from chronic back pain and was sent home with lots of medication including high doses of both long acting and short acting morphine. I was also feeling very low in mood as I had become severely urinary incontinant in my early 40s. I then lost my job due to this as I was a medical practitioner within Nhs borders and nobody knew why I was in such extreme pain. I have two unoperable prolapsed discs and was turned away by a neurological surgeon who said they could not help me. I eventually saw a private surgeon within Western General whom then agreed to carry out steroid facet joint bilateral nerve blocks on a diagnostic basis. had requested a full back mri from nhs Borders. The plan was to bring me back up to western for a consultation regarding future care and the results. However a few weeks later I received a letter stating I was being discharged! I complained to my gp and to the western that I hadn’t received my mri results. I have now got a consultation with the surgeon in July.

Urology at nhs Borders has been really delayed. I started being urinary incontinent as an inpatient and was discharged severely incontinant. It’s was months before I saw a consultant and after several drugs I have now had urodynamic testing showing my bladder is very overactive so I’m waiting to hear back from consultant to discuss Botox injections. The urologist believes my incontinence is directly connected to my prolapsed discs however the surgeon disagrees, even though I have never had bladder problems before!

I had to wait yet another 6 months however as there was a mix up and I hadn't been refered appropriately ! I have been under the care of neurologist, pain team, physio, urologists and gps however I have had to chase this care and feel I've been left to my own care plan. Therefore this could have been done months ago!!!

My nerve blocks have been a success and I'm due for Botox into the bladder however both these are temporarily measures so I was struggling to think of the future.

Under supervision I began tapering my longtec morphine slowly and got down to 5 mg twice a day. However at no point did anyone tell me how difficult withdrawals would be! I managed to get down to a small dose and was told by a go that I could easily drop this in a week. I then stopped the rest over a week.

I was fine for 3 days then began to feel really low and a burden to others. I ba came extremely depressed and contemplated suicide. I have had three other episodes over years but not as bad as this. I went into panic mode and called Samaritans... to be put on hold! I then called Nhs 24 who were fantastic even though I was in total panic attack. My husband took me across to BGH however I had to wait in a waiting room with others whilst feeling extremely low and taking constant panic attacks. I knew staff personally that were working which made things even worse.

I eventually met a mental health doctor and a member of the crisis team who were really good. They treat me with great respect and I felt I could be open with them.

I either saw or got a phone call everyday from the crisis team and they were my life line. I called them sometimes at 3 am and they gave as much time and care to me at those times. The crisis team is a very valuable resource to people wanting to remain at home whilst feeling very depressed. However I was discharged after a couple of weeks and I'm still not in a good place. I understand they are stretched to their limits due to under staffing in this team however I've went from 24/7 care to zero and my last experience in the emergency waiting room puts me off ever calling nhs24 again. My only other criticism is it was very difficult feeling suicidal sitting in a waiting room surrounded by others when I was taking constant panic attacks.

Overall the crisis team have helped me greatly and I appreciate everything they have done for me. More emphasis needs to be into this type of care in the community as many people with mental health issues are falling through the net. Nobody has picked up from where crisis team have left me and I'm still in a very vulnerable state.

I would like to recommend anyone coming in to see crisis team in the future to be took into a quiet room maybe to reduce further distress.

I’m a patient of the Hawick Community Hospital south team. I feel I have been left in limbo between the crisis team discharging me and I’m now awaiting both occupational therapy and psychology, which will take months. I am still in a crisis situation, I feel very low most of the time.

I’ve went from a hard working medical practitioner to someone who was discharged on crutches that had to get a fold away bed in my living room as I was unable to walk up stairs without being in agony, thankfully my back is feeling better at the moment. Unfortunately my whole life has been turned upside down, Ive be been left jobless, on morphine for far too long and I believe that all this could have been avoided if the surgeon whom the orthopaedic consultants were chasing when I was an in patient had at least had the decency to see me face to face.

I just don’t want others to have to experience this as now I feel I’m only in my 40s and it feels like a huge chunk of my life has been took away from me.

As stated before patient centred care should not mean the patient is in the centre of all their care coordinating it and making sure follow up appointments are kept upto date. I spoke to gp regarding this as I felt he should have been responsible in some way however he issued me a letter stating that my neurologist at the western would be in control of my care .... problem being is they haven’t shared any of their findings with others in my care!