Thousands being kept on secure wards for years

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An NHS watchdog has revealed that thousands of mental health patients are being kept on secure wards for years instead of being rehabilitated and prepared to...

An NHS watchdog has revealed that thousands of mental health patients are being kept on secure wards for years instead of being rehabilitated and prepared to leave hospital.

Fewer psychiatric beds

We have sleep-walked into a situation where our politicians have told us that we need fewer and fewer psychiatric beds and that care can be provided in the community.

Expansion

But, silently, in the background, as risk management trumps clinical care, the secure estate has expanded (with much assistance from the private sector which is much more flexible) and, without anyone designing it thus, we are surprised to find that we are back to where we started.

Students of history should be aware that, in the words of Ecclesiastes: ‘there is nothing new under the sun’. This is the inevitable consequence of promoting fear (of mental illness) over care.

It will require more than an inspector’s report to change the direction of travel. It requires a national conversation. This is not likely to happen just now. The government has other fish to fry.

Dr Danny Allen, Consultant Psychiatrist is commenting after reading an article in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/20/thousands-of-mental-health-patients-spend-years-on-secure-wards-nhs

 

1 in 4 people in England need mental health support*

We’re here to ensure you do not have to face it alone.

If you feel like you need professional help, we’re a private mental health hospital in Windsor with nurses on hand 24 hours a day who provide expert clinical treatment.

You can call Cardinal Clinic on 01753 869755 for confidential help and advice or send us an enquiry.

*McManus, S., Meltzer, H., Brugha, T. S., Bebbington, P. E., & Jenkins, R. (2009). Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, 2007: results of a household survey.

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