This is Care Opinion [siteRegion]. Did you want Care Opinion [usersRegionBasedOnIP]?
Care Opinion

Appalling lack of crisis care

Posted By telescopiumxg59

"Appalling lack of crisis care"

About: Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust

(as a carer),

My mum has long term severe mental illness where she gets very psychotic stops taking her medication and ends up very very unwell in need of a safe place. Which means admission to hospital because there is no crisis team that will go to her in time. And these crisis houses here don't take anyone with psychosis. 

She lives on her own and self neglects. We cant get near her when she is very paranoid and frankly we  are sick to death of being dumped on for years and years by this Trust who have never had the workforce in place to support very unwell patients.

It is not our job to look after our mother as the crisis line worker told my brother. It is appalling that this Trust expect us to put our entire lives on hold to provide the 24 hr care they should be doing. If they went in to her before she got so unwell then she wouldn't end up barricaded in her home with police smashing the door down (as now) and still no mental health assessment.  We as family don't have any break and we have to try and hold down jobs, pay mortgages and rents and have children to care for AND provide acute mental health crisis care 24 hrs a day until we cant get access. There was NO mental health services during the entire pandemic ( and please do not tell us otherwise when we know her community team haven't made contact since her last section ). We are sick of the excuses the complaints managers post . Everything from where sit is toxic and rotten and dangerous and we don't think for a moment that these crisis services and wards and sectioning teams care the slightest or they would have improved the quality of frontline staff and more importantly the managers. This has gone on or at least 10 yrs now..

2 of us are NHS nurses so we know what good care looks and sounds like and we know what dangerous decisions are. We concur with every criticism voiced by others on this site because at some point or another over time we as family or my mum as the patient has experienced the same. 

We post here not because we believe for a minute they will change but to stand in support with other families and patients who have been left in this position.

More about:
Do you have a similar story to tell? Tell your story & make a difference ››

Responses

Response from Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust 2 years ago
Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 09/03/2022 at 12:43
Published on Care Opinion at 15:08

We are very sorry to hear about your experience with the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust and how this has affected your family member, yourself and other members of your family. We are sorry that these experiences did not match the high standards we aim to achieve.

We are keen to hear more about your experience in trying to address your concerns with the community team and are sorry to hear that previous contact was unhelpful.

The Single Point of Access is a freephone 24 hours line that triages referrals into Crisis Services and we offer a face-to-face assessment of accepted referrals to the Crisis teams within 24 hours. We were sorry to hear of the comment that was made by staff during a call by family to this line and would be happy to investigate this if you contact us with further details.

More urgent referrals that cannot wait for the Crisis Team are directed to The Mental Health Crisis Assessment Centre at St Pancras Hospital if there are no physical health concerns. If there is a physical health risk the service user will be directed to the local Emergency Department.

On occasion, there are service users who require immediate attention for reasons of safety and are called through to our emergency services for a welfare check. We recognise this may be distressing for patients and is only actioned to prevent any harm to the service user or to others.

Referrals that do not meet the criteria for a crisis team referral may be directed to their GP for follow up and/or will be provided with signposting advice.

There are circumstances when it is appropriate to refer for a Mental Health Act Assessment (MHAA), however a referral to the crisis team will always be considered initially as the least restrictive alternative to hospital admission. We understand there can be delays for a community mental health act assessment which may be challenging for both patient and family. The Crisis Team aims to support both patient and relative in the interim.

It would be helpful for us to look into the details of your complaint and therefore encourage you to email us at feedback@candi.nhs.uk so that we can examine more closely what happened and what should have happened. We would also like to offer support with the Carers Hub and share any learning for our service with you.

Thank you for taking the time to post. We really do value your feedback.

Opinions
Next Response j
Previous Response k