The Health department have rapidly created new proposals for their spending cuts following public outrage at the original plans.They have not been formally announced but we should be ready to act now.
Buried in the list of new proposals is a £43,000 cut from mental health service efficiencies and reprioritisations. Are people aware that the psychiatric service is already collapsing due to lack of funding? In the last 18 months ,3 different consultants have been recruited from the UK.They all left after 3 months after finding it impossible to work within the bureaucratic shambles this Island has become. Community Psychiatric Nurses are pushed to the limit and seem unable to attract new recruits.
Statistics show that 1 in 4 people will suffer from mental health problems at some point in their lives; Jersey has a population of about 96,000 and there are less than 20 beds available in Orchard House ! Citizens Advice group are currently campaigning for more volunteers to cope with the large increase in people needing help
Where are vulnerable people to go for help? Jersey already has a higher number of suicides per head of population than the UK and with rising job losses, relationship problems etc this figure will increase.
We must lobby against these proposed cuts before the States Business Plan is accepted. Pandora
"The Least Among Us"
9 months ago
Anybody with mental health or anti social issues will be well catered for if our Home Affairs Minister gets his way. They will be zapped with 50,000 volts and slung up the overstretched nick.
ReplyDeleteThat's the good old Jersey way!
Mental health problems affect all ages of our population and there are very specific and different needs.
ReplyDeleteThe closing Of Belcroute Acute ward in the General Hospital marked the beginning of the end for any progressive trends in Jersey and was effected in spite of Senator Syvret's presence so it is just as much a fault of the so called good guys as the current demons.
The accountants dictate far too much government policy everywhere but Jersey is too small to offer alternatives to people with limited funds who might seek better treatments. Almost certainly Health will resort to exporting people needing specialist tretments soon as a cheaper option just as Le Marquand favours sending mentally disturbed prisoners to UK units.
It is a practical problem - but it will certainly not be improved unless more radical thinking is applied to the whole range of social problems that exist in Jersey.
The urge to redevelop the huge St Saviours site also appeals more to the accountants than providing expensive Mental Health services.
I was in Orchard House in late 2006 for 3 months with severe bi polar depression. I had a dreadful experience, bullying nurses, some of whom did not have a clue what depression was all about. I was ill again in 2009, but luckily my GP stopped me goign in. This is a wealthy island with a third world health service. the Jersey politicians should hang their heads in shame. The Germans are still alive and well in the States. If you think thats offensive it is nothing compared to what I endured in OH. God help Jersey, because I think He left a while ago.
ReplyDeleteOrchard House is used mainly fo patients who are being detained against their will. It is not suitable for those like me who have bi polar depression, I had a bad experience there in late 2006. I am sure the callous treatment I received prolonged my stay to three long months! I was ill again in 2009, but my GP stopped me going in again. I think we need another Belctoute Ward (which was exce;;ent) to accommodare the less acute cases.
ReplyDeleteI had many admissions to Belcroute ward many years ago. It was an awful place, and I have many bad memories! The staff there were horrible, they were rude to patients and neglectful, and seemed to not give a damn. As a self harmer I was treated like scum, and often left the ward more depressed than when I went in. The staff of Belcroute ward should have been thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
ReplyDeleteBelcroute ward was hell on earth, I had many admissions there. The staff were rude, neglectful and lazy. Being on Belcroute ward was like being punished for being mentally ill. I was a self harmer, it felt like I was the bottom of the food chain and was treated like scum and ignored. The staff of Belcroute ward neglected a lot of very unwell and vulnerable people. I still feel a lot of anger when I see staff from Belcroute ward in the street now, how can they say hello to me when they treated me and many others so badly! If any of the Belcroute staff are reading this you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves, you caused a lot of unnecessary suffering.
ReplyDelete