As you maybe aware I am a governor for the local NHS Trust which provides the mental health services over 3 local boroughs. It is the NHS Trust for mental health services that I have received although at present I am not under them. I asked to visit all 3 of the trusts inpatient acute mental health units both for working age adults and for older people. This was actually quite a challenge considering that I have myself received treatment at one if them many times before.
I am pleased to say that I was on the whole very impressed and actually think that there have been great improvements since I was last an inpatient especially around care and compassion, ward rounds, communication and activities on the ward. There are obviously many challenges regarding bed management, shortage of beds, staffing, consistency of staff, bank staff, agency staff etc …but I was struck by the dedication of the staff that I met.
It seems to me that once someone gets into hospital things are in general improving but the biggest challenges and areas of concern locally to me lie within crisis care, accessing services for the first time or after a break, liaison in accident and emergency departments and gp’s, support on discharge etc… Whilst it is positive that patients spend less time in hospital I am concerned that they are discharged too quickly because of a lack of beds and that community services are not meeting their needs effectively.
I am therefore committed to keep crisis care at the top of my agenda as a governor and especially the liaison service in accident and emergency as I have experienced such poor examples of care here within the last year and it desperately needs a rethink.
I feel privileged to be a governor and to be able to visit the wards and talk with staff and patients about this very challenging and important area of care.
mental illness
A blog for World Bipolar Awareness Day
So today it is Bipolar awareness day. As I sit here writing this I am once again battling to recover from a bad episode, strangely not like any other I have had before.
If I am honest probably most of my episodes are different in some way to the one before and I don’t mean just either depressive or hypomanic. Within each state of Bipolar I can experience different symptoms, for different lengths of time and each time I may learn new ways to cope or learn something new about myself but all in all they are just plain awful.
During the past year one thing has really changed for me – I have started to talk more about my experience of Bipolar, not just on twitter and through my blog but with my family, friends, at church and at work.
One thing I have learnt through this is how different everyone’s own experiences of mental illness are and that talking on twitter has shown me how everyone with Bipolar also has their own very individual experiences, symptoms and ways of ‘coping’. If only some health care professionals also had this insight too!
As far as people outside of twitter go I have talked to so many people who really didn’t know what was wrong and who might not completely understand but have shown so much support. Other people have been keen to share their experiences of family members with mental illnesses and have told me how they appreciated me talking to them about my experiences. Obviously I have had negative conversations and negative encounters and yes they still hurt so much and hopefully in the next year I can carry on working to combat mental health stigma for myself and others.
At the moment the battle goes on! I am struggling to ride the roller coaster but I know it will change however long it takes as it is so unpredictable.
I send my love, support and solidarity to those living with bipolar and other mental illnesses and I especially thank twitter for the welcome and support during the past year.
My Journey through the world of Mental Health 