Mental Health Cuts 'put Lives At Risk'

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34790094

Does anybody still think the Health Service is "safe in their hands" ?

The Tories have now been in power since 2010 ( in various forms ) but this review by the Kings Fund found there was now "widespread evidence of poor quality care".

I listened to the interview with "Kate" this morning on the Today Program, and it was shocking although not news to me as a family member has recently been in the same situation as her Dad. It was, and still is a harrowing experience for our family.

So ....when is this Government going to wake up and smell the coffee ?

[jim360]

The Americans are scared of anything resembling socialism. It's part of the national mentality to distrust a large state. I don't think that reflects on the NHS itself.

[mikey4444]

Sqad...you say the nicest things !

Despair ?...yes I sometimes do as well.

"Care in The Community" It seemed like a good idea at the time...close all those frankly awful Victorian institutions and replace it with a coordinated community-based care system.

The difficult is that the Government of the time managed to demolish these places and convert them to luxury flats and houses. That was the easy bit.

But it was then a few years later that they realised that all those desperately ill people were not getting any care at all and were living on the streets. It then resulted in the monstrous treatment metered out to people in places like Winterbourne View.

We need more than a feeling of despair Sqad...we need concerted action.

[Sqad]

\\We need more than a feeling of despair Sqad...we need concerted action.\\

Well mikey....you are not going to get it......either from the Tories OR Labour.

[jim360]

Having said that, the mental health aspect of the NHS is pretty rubbish, and always has been rubbish. The Tories may not have fixed it, and they may even (per Naomi) have been responsible for breaking it. But no government of any colour seems to be able to get a handle on the thing.

[Sqad]

Jim...mental health is not fashionable, it's not sexy and this is reflected in the people that run it.
It takes a certain type of nurse and doctor who have the ability to devout their lives to the management of mentally ill patients and these professionals are in short supply. Consultant jobs in Psychiatry are relatively easy to get and there are always posts which remain "open".
Psychiatry to many medical professionals is "soul destroying".."watching paint dry" and tend to gravitate to other branches of medicine.

Also the management of patients with mental health disorders is often a lifetime commitment to treatment, something that few doctors can deliver.

[alan23]

now if you are deemed need inpatient care you can be sent anywhere now due to closures. im in yorkshire and when i was in hospital there were lads from manchester,middlesbrough and even further away.