"Windsor and Maidenhead Community Mental Health..."

It is difficult to see how this Trust puts patients at the centre of its services and genuinely welcomes their feedback. On the website I can find not details of the Trust Board,

Board papers or quality accounts, details of the Director of Nursing or the Trust lead for patient experience.

This lack of clear leadership and clarity of who runs the organisation follows through, down to service delivery level.

They do not copy patients into their letters to their GP after an appointment, no FFT feedback sought, no user forums advertised.

I had the misfortune to use the services of their community mental health team a few months ago and after a prompt initial referral, I had the most horrendous appointment with a junior psychiatrist, who had clearly formed a fixed view of my depression and its causes before I stepped foot in the room, My meeting with him is best described as an interrogation and when my answers to his many questions did not support his view, he discounted everything

I said.

As it was clearly impossible to be copied into letters to my GP about what was allegedly discussed at my appointments, I asked for a copy of my medical records (very difficult to find out how to do this as the website was incorrect, as was the wording on the form) - only to find out the psychiatrist in question had written utter rubbish in my notes and I had to use the next appointment to set the record straight, ensure my notes reflected fact and not fantasy and I also discharged myself from the service. Seriously alarming.

Some of their psychiatrists are arrogant, poorly trained and supervised, and they totally fail to see patients as partners in their care (more like complete idiots who they can treat is a dismissive and insulting way.) I have distanced myself from this organisation, as I found it no help at all and actually quite damaging, and I would not recommend it to anyone.

Beware. Ensure you are copied into all correspondence and ask for a copy of your notes.