"Thank you"

Is the Priory perfect? No. But reviews like some of the others scare people at a time in their lives when they least need it. My daughter was at the Priory for nearly 15 months and after some serious ups and downs, she is happy and making plans for the future. Yes at times it felt like she had lost her dignity and she was annoyed by not having access to the Internet or being allowed out but she needed these restrictions to keep her safe. Of course like all hospitals, Ticehurst would benefit from higher staffing levels because sometimes the wait for the toilet or the shower was too long but from what I could see this was because staff were supporting patients who were struggling or on 1:1. The phones were problematic sometimes but staff always tried to contact you at least once a day even if it was not always possible to speak to my daughter. With her being an inpatient for so long, we did build up good relationships with staff and I would recommend that friends and family do this, because in hard times, staff care; they will try to help you and listen to your concerns. Helping someone get well again, requires both staff and family members to work together for the benefit of the patient and I can say that this did happen. It's down to the staff's patience, dedication and hard work that my daughter is alive and looking forward, without their persistence (and that does mean in part implementing strict rules, restricting leave, possessions etc) she may well not be. The school was also good and provided a welcome respite from the ward where one of the comments I would have is they need more variety in groups. Ticehurst is a hospital not a hotel, for some very ill people but however ill they are they have a right to be spoken to appropriately and treated with respect and for most of the time this was the case - there will always be members of staff that you get along with better than others, but that is life and no-one was ever rude to us. As for issues about cleanliness, we always found it to be clean although very hot. It was a shame that often there was not enough staff to make use of the grounds as I'm sure being stuck inside for such long periods of time is not good for anyone's mental health. If we ever need help again, I would hope that we would be offered a place at Ticehurst. It's not perfect and there are many simple things it could do to improve but the important things like the quality of care were on the whole everything we needed. Thank you.