What is happening to our Mental Health Service???

We have had a client @ West End Impact for the passed 3-4 years who will remain anon. He obviously had mental health issues but has been in housing in the passed and has worked when we first came into contact with him. Recently, about 3 months ago, he started to deteriorate and get really down and seemed depressed. We had tried to get him help via The Richmond Fellowship but he refused to communicate with them, but I think they managed to get a referral to Victoria House in Morecambe. Victoria House is based at the Queen Victoria hospital in Morecambe and is part of the mental health services. On return from our holiday in August we saw in the local newspaper that this client had attempted suicide by walking into the sea and the RNLI had to do a full rescue operation.

Around this time I contacted Victoria House to see if they could give me any information regarding the client. They said that under the mental health act they weren't allowed to tell me anything to which I replied 'can you not even tell me if he is alive and safe'
They told me he was but couldn't tell me anything else. We were concerned, as West End Impact was the clients C/O address and we had a drawer full of his mail and were still getting mail for him from the courts and solicitors regarding an outstanding court case. That is a whole other story. I said I was concerned as he may have outstanding court dates that he should be attending etc. All they could suggest was that I returned the mail to sender. I was not prepared to give them the mail without the clients permission. He had signed a declaration at IMPACT to say his mail was in our care and we keep all his paperwork in the filing cabinet for him.

Out of the blue I received a telephone call from Mental Health Services on the first Thursday in November asking if we had his National Insurance Number. I suggested they email a letter with the clients signature on it giving permission for me to give the NI number but the client refused to do this. I was left with no other option than to parcel all the mail up and hand deliver it to the Mental Health Svcs for the attention of the client. 

A day later they client was discharged from the Mental Health Svcs. His first port of call was West End Impact on Tuesday 11th November. He walked in and walked straight passed us without saying a word and eventually asked for a lap top - he chose to write things down to us through Google translate he typed in his language and we read the English. He ate some lunch whilst he was with us and a letter to the Care Quality Commission. It seems that wherever he goes he has to write letters of complaint but I think this is all part of his mental health and the condition he suffers from. He said on Google translate that he wanted to end his life and that he was going to wait for high tide and walk into the sea again. He didn't do this on this particular day. I alerted the police and they had him on high alert for the next 3-4 days checking surveillance on a regular basis. I talked to various members of staff within Vicitoria house and the mental health services and managed to get him to an appointment at Victoria House at 1pm on the Thrusday after he'd been into IMPACT, He was discharged again on the same day. He then went over to Lancaster at weekend and I rang round services in Lancaster to give them a heads up on the situation. He came back into Morecambe and this Tuesday 25th November he engaged with Get Connected and ask them for a laptop, and again communicated that he wanted to walk into the sea and end his life. The police called me and then came to IMPACT and asked for the full story again. The police said that they could detain him under the mental health act but again share my frustration with the Mental Health Services. I was told by the crisis team that 'this man can not just turn up at any agency or service and say he is going to take his life, and then expect everyone to jump.' This was when I was trying to get his case worker to engage and maybe come down to IMPACT on the first Tuesday he came in. I asked the CRISIS team what warrants a CRISIS then as everyone I had spoken to gave me the same answer. 'If you are concerned for this man then call the Police'  He had missed an appointment that they made for him at Dalton Square Surgery on that day as a follow up to his discharge, and therefore offer an alternative appointment with the Crisis Team at Victoria House on the Thrusday and that was all they could do. 

I had a long chat to the police office at IMPACT on Wednesday the 26th Nov and she left again to try and find him and within minutes the RNLI and ambulance were called to rescue him from the sea again. He was later released from hospital. Today (Thursday 27th) the client came in again, and I tried to engage with him. I wrote him a note to tell him how we wanted to help and maybe we could get him back to Poland as he didn't seem to be getting the help he needs here in England - he refused the note and instead typed a note to us on the laptop saying again that he wanted to die and that the police keep trying to rescue him but he is determined to end his life. He left around 11.15am and again I alerted the police and RNLI. The rescue took around 20 mins and this time he was detained under the mental Act - in other words Sectioned.

I am writing this as an account for myself but hopefully to build awareness that something more needs to be done. Open lines of communication need to be put in place for this kind of incident. I asked myself why he was not detained in the first place when they discharged him out the Mental Health Services for bad behaviour on the 9th November. If he was kicking off he should have been Sectioned. There should also been open lines of communication with charities who have been trying to help a client for nearly 3 years to get help. There should also be clear lines of communication with the different level of Mental Health Services. I have not named anyone or any level of the Mental Health Service for a reason, but there are so many levels and it is not clear what the pathway is to get the client the help they need. Something also needs to be done about only being able to access Mental Health Services through a GP. This whole thing has been a breech of human rights I am sure, and is also a massive strain on charities who care and are trying to help the client get the help they need. On this occasion it just seemed like a game of ping pong with the client. Lots of money was wasted, and if only the Mental Health Services had come down to IMPACT and talked to the client with our help we may have got much further and it would have saved a lot of time, money and effort for all parties. Something needs to change something needs to be done. If this was not a CRISIS I don't understand what justifies a CRISIS!! This client was crying out for help and my hope and prayer is that he now gets the help he needs!!

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