"no one cares"

Firstly I would like to thank you for taking time to post your concerns. I am very sorry to hear that you feel we have let you down and that this experience has compromised your trust in our services. I shared your concerns with my colleagues and asked them to provide a response to your specific points, they have provided the following:

Hello, my name is Ashley Clayton, Support Service Manager. I have responsibility for the Single Point of Access administration. I’m sorry that you feel the service you got from our Switchboard and SPA call handlers was less than satisfactory. We aim to provide both a swift and supportive response to each person that calls either of these numbers. As you can imagine, these services are extremely busy and receive a high volume of calls throughout the day and night, seven days a week. Due to this high volume, call handlers must try to take information from individuals and put them through to the correct service in a relatively brief space of time.

All staff receive one to one supervision with their line manager and I will be asking them to use these sessions to reflect on the issues you have raised to ensure that in future they aim to respond in a way that reflects our Trust’s values and makes the person calling feel supported and valued.

Lisa Hardisty, Clinical Team Manager for West Community Mental Health Team has provided the following information in relation to the Community services aspect of your concerns:

We are very sorry to hear about the difficulties you have experienced when trying to contact the Community Mental Health Team at St Mary’s House. We have recently introduced a new phone system in an attempt to improve our service but we have realised there have been some problems with the roll out of this system. I have requested IT colleagues test all the phone lines and we are currently working to resolve all identified problems. I am also sorry you felt the switchboard staff you spoke to did not seem at all bothered or concerned about the difficulties you were having and how you were feeling about this. It is never our intention to be unhelpful or uncaring and I am sorry this was your experience of our care.

Please could I encourage you to make contact with the PALS team directly on 0800 052 5790 in order that you concerns can be reviewed in greater detail.

Once again thank you for taking the time to post your concerns and provide us with the opportunity to learn from your experience.