"Complete and utter lack of support from Silverlea"

Throughout the whole of the lockdown (mid March onwards) I have received 3 phone calls from my care coordinator at Silverlea CMHT within a period of 2 weeks in May and then nothing until last week. This was despite my asking for more support, and struggling a lot more than usual. This was responded to with the 3 phone calls, as mentioned above, after the Psych Liaison team at the RD&E Hospital (Exeter) and Crisis Team chased Silverlea up for not having made any contact with me whatsoever. I was then told by Silverlea that the only way I was able to access support from them would be if I was to ring the duty worker (who has on more than one occasion spoken to me for no more than 5 minutes or simply told me that no one is free to talk and on many occasions, not even returned my call) and they wouldn’t be initiating any contact otherwise.

The Iris Centre (Personality Disorder Service), however, kept me updated in that I was still on their waiting list after undergoing the initial therapy assessments with them but that things had been halted due to the COVID-19 outbreak. I told them about my lack of correspondence from Silverlea and were unaware of the situation until it was brought to their attention by myself and my others. I would normally have been seen at least once a week by my care coordinator and once a month by a psychiatrist, both from Silverlea. I have not had a face-to-face meeting or phone call with a psychiatrist since February and have not had a face to face meeting with my care coordinator since February. The 3 phone calls from said care coordinator were in May. I understand that these are unusual times and the services are likely overwhelmed but despite this I am still appalled at the shortcomings of the mental health services and seeming total lack of care or want to help, seeing as this is a time when they are needed more than ever. 

To actually have any contact with the team of professionals supposed to be responsible for my care would be nice.