Blog on based on this article… http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/02/mental-health-cuts-psychiatric-illness
On Sunday 2 Mar, Sean Duggan, chief executive, the Centre for Mental Health, was featured in the Observer. He identified that Mental Health services are facing serious financial pressures and this is having an effect on a range of services, especially those that help people to stay well and to recover their lives.
In 2010-11, the last year for which we have reliable spending data, funding for adult mental health services fell in real terms for the first time in a decade. Long-term under-investment and short-term cuts combine to put services under serious pressure. From the continued use of police stations as “places of safety” for people in a mental health emergency to inappropriate admission of children to adult psychiatric wards, these pressures affect some of the most vulnerable people at the most difficult times in their lives.
A debate ensued in the media and much of it was all too familiar. I left Lancashire Care Trust some years ago. As the NHS provider of mental health services across Lancashire this organisation had in my view become morally bankrupt. The closure of an acute mental health unit in Preston, The Avondale Unit, was one of the ‘last straws’ for me as an in-patient unit that was made unavailable to health care professionals seeking beds for acutely ill clients was portrayed as ’empty’ and ‘overcapacity’ to visiting politicians. Smoke and mirrors stuff by a trust management team driven by numbers and finance and given a style of management many staff found intimidatory and threatening.
A consequence of the closure of this unit and others is that central Lancashire patients who are in need of hospital care are now finding themselves at the other end of the county. Imagine the distress this causes to them and their families.
Of course ‘community services’ were going to replace in-patient care and so mitigate the need for beds. Can you believe that across the country now there are reports of ‘Crisis Teams’ avoiding assessments on individuals as to do the assessment will identify a need for a bed which no longer exists…
The story is indeed a sad one, and a lengthy one too!
Now working privately I can practice ethically and honestly. I feel sorry for ex colleagues working in the present NHS culture. I feel even more sorry for people with mental health issues who’s only recourse to help is that offered by the NHS. To me Sean Duggan’s comments are welcome as they illuminate the issue and have indeed brought it into the public debate. Sadly I expect little to change until the agenda of management and the government switches away from figures and numbers toward care and compassion. Will that happen?