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"Mental Health Emergency at Warwick Hospital A&E"

About: Warwick Hospital

I recently suffered a mental health crisis and was taken into Warwick Hospital A&E by ambulance. I had quite extensive self-inflicted injuries and felt suicidal. I had also taken an overdose of tablets. On arrival to A&E at around 2 AM on a week night, I was put into a room and told to wait on the bed. I was assessed by a doctor within 10 minutes and the A&E was not busy. This doctor asked me no questions, showed no concern or sympathy and simply looked at my injuries and shrugged his shoulders. The doctor then asked me if I had taken any tablets, to which I said I had and I explained what I had taken. The doctor then told me to wait for a nurse, never once looked me in the eye or showed one shred of kindness or concern. The nurse came soon after without introduce herself either, simply saying they were going to do some tests. The nurse hooked me onto monitors and took blood without explain anything at all before leaving. I felt so bad that I just wanted to go home even though I knew it was unsafe for me to do so (I still felt like seriously hurting myself). I stepped outside of my room and spoke to the nurse who had taken my tests. I said I wanted to leave. The nurse rolled her eyes and sighed and said "talk to the doctor", pointing in the direction of one of the doctors. I then told the doctor I wanted to leave, and the doctor quite sternly said that I can't and that I would have to wait for my blood tests to come back. I felt so low (not to mention uncared for) that I simply went back to my room and laid down on the bed and fell asleep. I woke up about 3 hours later. I had bled on the bed from the injuries on my arms and legs and they were hurting. The doctor who had first seen me then came in (well, simply just popped their head in) and said "You can go now". The doctor asked how I would get home, I said I'd ring my partner. I was then told to go wait in reception. I was never asked if I wanted to see a mental health professional. I was never asked if I had further plans to hurt myself. My injuries were not cleaned or dressed and I was left bleeding on my own. The attitude from all the staff who I saw was the same - no concern at all. There was also no follow up whatsoever. Subsequently my mental health deteriorated more and a few weeks later I was again taken to hospital by ambulance (a different hospital) after a suicide attempt. Thankfully I was then assessed by a psychiatrist and admitted and properly looked after both as an inpatient and later on as an outpatient. I quite simply do not understand why I received such appalling care at this A&E and wonder whether they have any procedures in place when it comes to dealing with patients in mental health crisis. To be treated like this when you are at your most vulnerable and considering ending your life is absolutely terrible and I do hope in the future other patients are treated with more sympathy and care.

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Responses

Response from Warwick Hospital 9 years ago
Warwick Hospital
Submitted on 08/07/2014 at 18:00
Published on nhs.uk on 09/07/2014 at 04:00


On behalf of the Trust I am very sorry to hear about your experience. We would like the opportunity to investigate thoroughly and respond to the issues that you have raised. In order to do this though we will require further details to help us establish what happened with your care, therefore please could you contact our patient experience team on 01926 600 054. Yours sincerely, Helen Lancaster, Director of Nursing

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