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No female crisis line or team workers on duty - AGAIN

Posted By LaG

"No female crisis line or team workers on duty - AGAIN"

About: Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust / Crisis resolution

(as a service user),

This relates to two consecutive days recently when neither the single point of access crisis line nor the crisis team itself had a female worker on duty. 

Nor, according to the male workers answering the phone was there anyone anywhere in entire Trust to speak to. Not a single female crisis worker available. 

This is been a problem going back years. There seems to be a lack of understanding that women raped or abused ( as many with severe MH distress have been) cannot safely speak to a male worker. 
This Trust publicly claims to be expert in supporting women and trauma informed. This Trust claims publicly on this site, on FOI sites, on their website that a female worker is always available. 
This isn't about preference on a whim. It is about safety and not retraumatising and triggering vulnerable women when they are already in crisis. 
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Responses

Response from Camden and Islington NHS FT 3 years ago
Camden and Islington NHS FT

Submitted on 11/06/2021 at 10:44
Published on Care Opinion at 11:25

Dear Service User

I do apologise for the delay in returning a response to your posting.

We are very sorry to hear of your experience when you tried to access crisis support via our Crisis - Single point of access telephone line.

We do try to ensure that there is always a mix of male and female staff on duty at the Crisis Single Point of Access and that callers have access to a female worker, however there may have been occasions when this was not always possible for which we apologise.

We value complaints as a vital source of feedback about the services we provide and are committed to using this feedback to generate reflection and improvement.

Our managers will pay closer attention to the Crisis Single Point of Access shifts when planning the rota in advance to ensure there is access to a female staff member available on duty. All our clinicians are aware that the request to speak with an available female clinician should be facilitated.

You are welcome to get in touch with us directly via feedback@candi.nhs.uk if you would like to provide us with more detail about the service you received and discuss this matter further.

Kind Regards

Shilpa Nairi

Operational Service Manager

Crisis Resolution Teams & Crisis Single Point of Access

Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust

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