Delivering Excellence

As a carer for a loved one who is suffering from acute depression, the last few years have been very difficult. I have found the level of service provided by the local Mental Health Service have left much to be desired, adding to the distress.

It was with great interest that I went to the presentation “Delivering Excellence” at the Bradgate Unit (Glenfield Hospital). I was keen to hear how the Trust had identified the countless shortcomings in the service that I had experienced and the improvements they would be making.

The focus of the meeting was the merger of the now deemed unfit for purpose Brandon Unit at the General Hospital into the Bradgate Unit, by building new expensive custom designed wards at the site.

At no point did the presenters refer to improvements in procedures, staff culture or management, which left me to understand that they consider the cause of the poor service is simply that the buildings are inadequate.

My experience at both of these units is very definitely that the problems lie with Management and Staff culture, however immaculate the buildings, the service users and carers will continue to suffer from inadequate service until standards are improved.

A mental Health patient will frequently be unaware of the level of service they are receiving and the carer is left isolated, as the wards appear to deal with patients in isolation.

With mental illnesses, it is essential to treat the patients in a holistic way, involving carers and family as far as possible, listening to their stories, much of the root cause for the illnesses may be in a build up of incidents over a number of years. They also need to understand that, as a carer, I will do anything to ease the suffering of my loved one, and would gladly assist at meal times and other times when help is needed, but the carer is continually shut away from this.

It is such a shame, I believe that the Trust would make far more progress by tightening their procedures and training their Managers and Staff to work to the standards required and to treat the patients holistically.

The carer can be an incredibly valuable resource to help with their patient and ease the load of the nursing staff, but it is a resource that doesn’t appear to be valued.