"Poor access to Mental Health services"

Got referred to Primary Care Mental Health Services (used to be Prism). Was assessed and told them what I wanted to see a psychiatrist. After a 2 week wait they offered me some cheaper stuff, but was refused a psychiatrist appointment. The assessment pushed me into a suicidal crisis, which I am still suffering a month later.

My GP tried to refer me back to them at least twice, but was simply stonewalled. 3 trips to the GP, 3 phone calls to 111, and 3 trips to A&E, I’ve finally been referred to a psychiatrist by a liaison psychiatry nurse working at A&E. Just imagine how much money the NHS could have saved if PCMHS had done that to start with.

I made a complaint about their behaviour and feel I have been treated like dirt as a direct result.

What have I learned from this:

1. I believe PCMHS’s primary focus is saving money and not helping sick people. There’s plenty of reports on the web about how they are great because they saved so much money during their first year. In my view their (dysfunctional) goal is saving money and they ignore the suffering this causes.

2. They don’t like people with Personality Disorders or people who complain (I’m not the first person on here to note that).

3. Paradoxically, if you’re well enough to string a sentence together, you’ve got no chance: you can’t really be ill. Likewise, unless you’ve had a recent serious suicide attempt, you aren’t really suicidal.

My advice, despite the fact that I’ve got excellent GPs, is to avoid getting referred by them. Go to A&E during work hours and see Liaison Psychiatry, who are able to refer you without the hell of going through PCMHS.