The CPNs seem to act as more of a barrier to seeing pdoc rather than gateways. I had a rough patch recently so reversed a pdoc lead med reduction. I told my CPN at the time. Anyway when I told my gp she got mad and said I should have spoke to my pdoc.
I explained I spoke to the out of hours service on Sunday morning, but that nurse told me to speak to my GP. Screwed up isn’t it.
I told my gp the whole tone of community mental health care has changed. It is full of professionals passing the buck up/across the line. No one wants to take responsibility. Ultimately the pdoc should have the final say but like I say the whole process of getting word to them is complicated, beaurocratic, unclear and at worst contradictory.
I envy the us system where the patient just phones their pdoc. This is not the case in the NHS.
There was a period of 8 weeks earlier this year where I left 12 messages for my CPN asking her to call me to discuss meds. I GOT NO REPLY.
No wonder patients intervene into their own meds when this is the case.
I would very much very agree. If you are a non acute/non crisis person then to services you are an afterthought . You coul be struggling to maintain a reasonable quality of life but as far as services are concerned you are very much on your own.
That coupled with lack of a whole person approach, and failure to get to know people,results in adequate/poor treatment for many.
Trying to communicate with a mental health professorial is a very hit and miss affair. Often they are unavailable and the receptionist never passes on your message as they never contact you.
I have been trying to educate my NP by sending emails to her through the mental health trust. Whether she gets them is anyone’s guess. If she does she has never given an indication or offered to discuss things.
People say to forget the past but it’s hard to do when the mistakes of the past are still constantly being repeated resulting in inadequate/poor treatment.
Yes my experience with community team has been DIRE. The support for acute patients (psychotic/suicidal) was a little bit better, but if you’re not trying to jump out a window then they show you the door.
I want to change from depot to oral meds so I don’t have to see my team. They are so occupied running about ‘putting out fires’ they are more of a hindrance to the chronic population.
In my area they say their mandate is ‘severe and enduring’. I haven’t really seen that: what they should say if they were honest is ‘the squeakiest hinge gets the first oil’
‘Enduring’ is very easy but how do you define ’ severe’? Is it dependant on diagnosis as some would argue or on degree of impaired functioning,irrespective of diagnosis, as others would argue?
Often it’s stated as being bipolar,depression and the schizophrenia spectrum disorders or psychotic illnesses.
Using that criteria I might not qualify as severely mentally ill but that is counterpointed by my being on a depot antipsychotic primarily used for psychosis but also used for people with autism spectrum disorder.
If it’s based on impaired functioning then the picture changes. I am especially impaired on the interpersonal/social interaction front but with problems also in other areas. That impairment would indicate a severe condition under those terms of defining ‘severity’.
The NHS mental health system is a joke. I go to GP, Gp refers me to mental health , I go see cPn, cpn refers me to consultant. I don’t get why the GP opinions not enough. Argh.
I really want a long break from the community mental health team. Not my consultant but my CPN and support worker. I feel like I am being scrutinised every time I see them. I don’t feel comfortable with them coming into my house cos I think they are judging me.
Also they pressure me into stuff like basket weaving classes which I have littleinkling to do. It’s just not me. I like a quiet domestic life. But they judge me when I turn these activities down. This upsets me. I feel like I don’t get peace from my team.
This feeling of being judged makes me want to come off my depot and go on oral instead.