"Charnock Ward"

I think someone needs to look in to the service provided by this "intensive" care mental health unit.

A member of my family was a patient at this unit and I have to say that there are some good honest members of staff that care for their patients but in our experience this was not the case from some of the staff.

For the time my family member was a patient at this unit I watched in disbelief how this unit was understaffed, sometimes staffed with bank staff (too many in my opinion) that as far as I am aware had no knowledge of the various patients clinical history.

More concerning I saw staff attitudes towards patients that I feel was on the verge of unprofessionalism and misconduct. I made a few complaints that were followed up by management staff reassuring me that they had been looked at and measures taken to resolve them, but I must say I did not see any significant improvements in patient care, but I did feel that there were some change of attitudes from some members of staff towards myself and my family member, not for the good I must say!

My family member was a victim of aggression from another patient and had some personal belongings stolen, you would think that this could never happen in an “intensive” care unit but it did.

I have been for some time considering legal action and following recent findings regarding issues on other NHS units regarding patient care I think this is the only way forward.

Talk about NHS reform, yes I couldn’t agree more but let’s do it properly starting with patients care and making people responsible for their actions and not, as I feel is the case, protected by the NHS umbrella.