"Terrible"

My mother has suffer from mental Heath problems for the past 8 years and as a result received treatment at a number of different units across the country. Her experience and ours, as a caring family, of the Hartingham unit has been by far the worst. OT care was good but nursing and medical care was terrible. Patients managed with drugs and discipline. Nursing staff seemed to lack even a basic understanding of the mental Heath illness my mum was struggling with. Very little compassion, understanding or care shown by the nursing or medical staff. The few talented nurses we came across seemed to be so bogged down, working without support or the systems we've seen in other units, that their ability to be effective was lost. Consultants where hardly ever seen and seem to see their role as prescribers and very little else. A tell tail sigh of how badly patients are managed is that there is nearly always police at the unit. My mother was discharged far more unwell than when she was admitted and is only alive today due to the excellent work of the police and her community mental Heath team. A lot of change is needed at the Hartingham unit and lot could be learnt from other units that provide far better care. In the nhs postcode lottery this unit provides its local population with poor and inferior services.