Tag: nationalhealthservice

Rocket Science

If you can’t here expecting a review of a lush  bathbomb then sorry to disappoint you this is a rant about mental health services, maybe try Lulu or Jen

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A blue rocket shaped bath bomb made by Lush cosmetics

I am not a frequent flyer, I don’t have air miles I haven’t been on a plane in years and the last time I went abroad was to Edinburgh by train. Despite this I and other in a similar are labelled frequent flyers or regular attenders (this is meant to be the better term) because we find ourselves in situations where our mental health has got to a point when we need support and intervention often requiring medical attention as a result of harming ourselves.

Self harm isn’t something people do for fun or because they enjoy being in a&e it’s because emotions become overwhelming (and this is a very simplified explanation of a complex issue) and as I’ve written before the treatment once you’re at a&e is often not pleasant or equal to the treatment of people going in for accidental injuries with long waits in loud and busy waiting areas and psych liaison who at most may give you a leaflet and discharge you at 4am with no way of getting home.

It’ll be no surprise that this latest rant is inspired by a crisis concordat meeting this morning, two hours of frustration at having to bite my tongue in frustration at the language used and throwaway comments about people with personality disorders and the triggering content in the suicide prevention information listing the age groups and sex of people who ended their life and details of methods chosen again separated by sex.

Sometimes I look at the people sitting around the same table as me and wonder how they can be so oblivious to the blatantly obvious, do they really not see the link between the high numbers of people in Richmond who come into contact with the street triage team and the above average number of people detained under section 136 of the mental health act and the complete lack of crisis services in the borough? Are they actually surprised that people who are distressed or in crisis don’t want to travel an hour or more to an area they may not know to get support? And may not have the means to do so? It really isn’t rocket science or a difficult connection to make, I don’t exactly consider myself the sharpest tool in the box yet I can see it so why can’t they?

Aside from Mind since I’ve been a part of the crisis concordat (around 2 years now) and the outcome based commissioning program (coming up for 8 months) only one person has actually asked me about my experiences of a&e and the treatment I receive it still seems like a radical idea to most of the people involved to actually listen to someone who’s been in the very situation they’re talking about. Despite feeling like i’m banging my head against a wall (thanks Steph) and frequently coming away wondering if being there serves any purpose I still keep going if only to play my own version of crisis bingo.

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Cost and sustainability

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A blackboard with “rant of the day” printed at the top and the letters NHS with pound signs drawn in white chalk

I had a list of things I wanted to blog about so instead I’m going to write about something completely different which came up few days ago.

I’ve been trying to get more into doing activitiesoutside of volunteering which uses my lived experience of having mental health problems, last week I attended a workshop on Outcomes Based Commissioning (OBC). I’ve learnt that mental health meetings and groups loves acronyms, an alphabet soup of conditions, job roles, legislation and projects.

I’d like to tell you more about exactly what that is but honestly I’m not entirely sure myself. I can tell you that 8 organisations some statutory such as the NHS and some charity are working together to change the delivery of mental health services in the area and somewhere in all this they’re looking for contribution and input from service users, carers and people with lived experience of mental distress.

One of aims from the mental health service is to ensure sustainability and deliver cost effective treatment, I have a couple of issues with this. 1) you cannot guarantee sustainability, you can do your best the make services sustainable but don’t make false promises especially to vulnerable people, 2) cost, now unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll know that the NHS is chronically underfunded and overstretched; mental health has always been refereed to as the Cinderella service and when the going gets tough the tough gets cutting and mental health is often one of the first areas to feel these cuts.

So what’s the problem with pointing this out or looking to save money? well mental health already comes with a nice big serving of guilt for many people, guilt for putting pressure on loved ones, guilt for not working, guilt for being unreliable and it’s hard not to feel the need to justify the cost of treatment as I wrote in my last post I’ve been told by Drs in a&e to consider how long it took to treat me compared to the time it took me to cut myself, I’ve been questioned on why I called an ambulance despite feeling faint from blood loss. I didn’t choose to have mental health problems, my actions may be my choice but having these issues is something beyond my control.

Having the cost of treatment pointed out or hearing the providers talk about services being cost effective makes people feel guilty for something they can’t help and even puts people off seeking treatment whether that’s for self harm (I know people who will suture or glue themselves) or more long term treatment like psychotherapy or counselling.

The financial situation with the health service is complex but nobody should be made to feel guilty for needing healthcare or social care or feel they don’t deserve the help they need.

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Dear Dr (a message to Healthcare professionals treating self harmers in hospital)

I’m a regular in my local, that probably doesn’t sound unusual or uncommon except I don’t mean my local pub I mean my local a&e department. Like around 1 in 4 people in the U.K. I have mental health problems and often require medical attention for self harm, I decided to write a post about my experiences in a&e as an open letter to medical professionals.

A collage picture of a wolf howling with song lyrics “Lately it’s hard to let you know that I’ll never learn” above and below

Dear Dr or health care professional

The NHS is underfunded and over stretched, you work long hours in a challenging conditions often with little thanks or support; it’s impossible to be oblivious to the current state of our health care system. When you’re juggling patients and trying to be in 3 places at once it’s not hard to understand why you might not want to spend an hour or more treating someone for self inflicted injuries especially when you’re coming to the end of a long shift; however you chose a career helping people and taking care of their medical needs and I am a person in need of medical attention.

If you’ve never experienced a mental health problem or felt a need to harm yourself then I don’t expect you to understand how I feel or why I do what I do but the way I got my injuries doesn’t change the way they should be treated. I’ve been treated in ways I can’t imagine people who are there after an accident would be. 
I’ve had wounds washed out in a sink in front of all the other cubicles and taken from one part of the department to another with nothing covering my arm while people stare at me often horrified, on one occasion my arm was covered so it wouldn’t scare the children in the paediatric a&e. 

I’ve been stapled with no local anaesthetic and told it’s fine because it doesn’t hurt (it does), I know this is in partly due to guidelines but I’ve also had malicious treatment where one Dr repeatedly pulled the Staples out and re did them all the while telling me if I didn’t stop I’d lose my arm while I sat in bed crying. I’ve had Drs tell me to think about how long it took them to treat me compared to the time it took me to hurt myself and when I’ve felt faint from blood loss and said I need to sit down told I can wait a couple of minutes. 

In my a&e notes it says most of the time that I’m not distressed or that I was making eye contact; apparently that means I’m fine. My mental state is frequently being judged as fine because I’m not shouting or being abusive or absconding however on times when I have been visibly upset I’m ignored.

I know accident and emergency staff are there to treat my physical injuries and leave the psychological side of things to the psych liaison but please remember that attached to the arm you’re treating is a person, I know my cuts can be deep and you may need another opinion but I’m not an exhibition for everyone to come and have a good look and discuss the damaged I’ve done, I see the signs that talk about dignity privacy and respect yet that doesn’t seem to apply if you’re a mental health patient; a little discretion wouldn’t hurt.

This isn’t intended as a criticism of the NHS I know I’d be dead without it but I didn’t choose to be this way, it’s something I’ve not been able to break away from despite treatment and no amount of snapping elastic bands of holding ice cubes has ever replaced it as a coping mechanism.

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Service user involvement and mental health awareness

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A picture of me wearing a sparkly maroon jumper and gold star necklace with a floral lanyard around my neck, I am holding a piece of paper and talking into a microphone.

I’ve been volunteering for just over four years, this was a speech I gave at the 2016 Annual general meeting (AGM).

One of the things that appealed to me when deciding to become a volunteer was being able to use my lived experience to benefit myself and others and the importance placed on the voice of service users. I’d been a group member in the Peer Support groups for a while but had never considered or planned to get involved in mental health in any capacity other than being a service user or patient, before joining the groups I’d never seen any benefit to having a mental health problem after all my experience had just brought me trauma, disappointment and more prescriptions for psychiatric medication than I can count.

Over the past four years I’ve progressed as a volunteer across different projects and areas of the charity and have used my lived experience as a Peer Support Volunteer, Youth Wellbeing Volunteer and by becoming more active with service user involvement being able to speak on behalf of people with mental health problems in the area. I’ve been a part of the local crisis concordat group for a year now looking at the way crisis services are delivered and how they can be improved I’ve also attended the changing minds festival at the Southbank centre, been part or research into unmet needs in the borough and sat on a panel talking about mental health and art.

Service user involvement is often under-represented and many people don’t realise that their views and opinions are not just important but needed and aren’t aware that these opportunities to talk about their lives exist. People with experience of mental health problems and those who have used services whether NHS, charity or support groups are known as experts by experience for good reason because no one knows us or our needs better than we do something which goes for everyone not just people with a mental health problem or a certain diagnosis.

Another project I’ve been working with is the mental health awareness workshops with the volunteer coordinator, this is a training programme offered to organisations wishing to boost levels of mental health awareness in their workplace. So far I’ve told my personal story to two groups of people with English as an additional language many of whom also struggle with their own mental health difficulties and were able to discuss this after I talked about my problems.

I was recently described as “very articulate” and told I could “probably talk my way out of any situation” aside from possibly being the best description of me ever it’s what motivates me to continue to do the things I do. In January I’ll be co-delivering part of the mental health awareness training and talking about myths and misconceptions surrounding mental health and I plan to use my skills to raise awareness and do what I can to improve and influence mental health services not just for my benefit but for the benefit of all the people who aren’t able to be as involved as I am. On the days where my mental health is getting me down or I feel angry and frustrated because of my issues I try to think of all the things I’ve done over the past few years the experiences I’ve had and people I’ve met none of which would have happened if I didn’t have a mental health problem.

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