"Staff were really kind and caring"

I am a member of the service user and carer group at South London and Maudsley and wanted to share some of my experiences and thoughts both as a member of the group and also as an individual. I went into hospital a few years ago after going into A&E. I spent some time in SLAM where the staff were all really kind and caring.

I was seen by a psychologist who was really helpful and referred me to the Resilience Course which is based at Guys Hospital. This was a 12 weeks course and it really helped me. It got you to focus on your strengths and weaknesses both to accept them and also to work on them.

This made a big difference to me and now as a member of the group I am involved in a number of things. In some ways the group is like a social club where everyone helps everyone else. Listening to the carers of people with demential and other conditions it does feel like they have to fight to get the help they need. But the government is trying to put things in place.

I went to a Lambeth Healthwatch event which was a consultation event there were only 8 patients out of 62 people attending. I feel that there are too many managers not enough nurses and the NHS is top heavy in a lot of ways.