"Mental Health Services in Nottinghamshire"

My husband recently had a psychotic episode on a Sunday night after visiting Millbrook two days in a row with nobody being available in the Crisis Team to see him. We were sent down to A&E on both occasions and Mental Health Practitioner stated he was just tired. 4 hours after presenting in A&E my husband had a psychotic episode which was traumatic and involved the Police being called and him spending 36 hrs in Police custody waiting for an assessment and a bed to become available. The Mental Health Team based at Mansfield Police were excellent and whilst my husband was there they were in regular contact with me and kept me informed. I even went to station twice and meet the team and they were a great support to us.

However, once my husband left the Police station he went to Rowan 1 ward at Highbury Hospital, things then became a nightmare. I completely understand that my husband was on an assessment ward and that the ward can become very unsettled at times and challenging but we believe that the care/experience that my husband and my family received from this ward has made our situation worse. My husband spent one week on Rowan 1. Whilst there he did not have any one-one named nurse sessions and whilst we visited him every day we continued to witness paranoid behaviour, which we did report to staff and it soon became apparent that things were not being documented on RIO. We asked the staff about how he had been and we were told they had witnessed no paranoid behaviour, despite him sleeping behind his door at night because he believed people would enter his room. My husband was very vulnerable whilst on Rowan 1, he witnessed other patients falling out and taking other patients belongings from their rooms and we believe he was giving his tobacco away to other patients to stay safe (£50 worth in 2 days). On the day of his first MDT meeting it was quite obvious that he was still very paranoid and unsettled (pacing the car park and verbally aggressive) and he told us before the MDT meeting, myself and his mother was not to say anything in the meeting. We contacted the ward prior to the meeting from the car park and stated this and asked to see the doctor before the meeting without my husband being present, this was agreed. Unfortunately we were not given this chance and were taken straight into the meeting. In the meeting the doctor stated he had already made his decision and my husband was discharged from the ward and sent home there and then and would now be under the care of the Crisis Team.

Once we arrived home from Highbury on the day of discharge my husband was very verbally aggressive towards me and his mother and believed that we were just trying to keep him locked up and ended up with me leaving our home at 4: 30am. He attended an appointment with the Crisis team the following day and my husband asked what support they were going to give him. We were given the number for Let’s Talk Wellbeing and told to contact them. The next couple of days were hell, all of which I logged with the Crisis team. On the third night it was even worse, I had to leave the house in the middle of the night as he was paranoid and unsettled. His mother and I contacted the Crisis team and we were informed there was a bed available at Millbrook if needed and they contacted the police to do a wellbeing check. In the meantime my husband took himself to Millbrook but got turned away and ended up at his mother’s address just as the Police were there to do a Wellbeing check (at the wrong address), he then panicked and drove back to Millbrook. I arrived at Millbrook and rang the Crisis Team whilst I was at the door they refused my husband entry as he was shouting, I had no choice to ring the Police to come to Millbrook to sort the situation. At 4am he was allowed onto Orchid Ward and the following morning because the doctor wasn’t quick enough to process his Section 5(2) paperwork my husband walked out of the unit. We managed to get him to go back to Millbrook in the afternoon of that day only for him to walk out again due to the waiting around. That evening my husband was assessed at home by the CAT team but they felt that he wasn’t poorly enough to place on a Section.

After being discharged by the Crisis team we did a referral with Let’s Talk Wellbeing as advised by the Crisis team. My husband had an initial assessment but was told he didn’t met their criteria as he was still experiencing paranoid thoughts and it was too soon after being discharged from the Crisis team. My husband’s referral was then sent to the SPA meeting by LTW, where it was agreed that the Psychotherapy team would see him. I rang a week later and they stated that they didn’t have his referral, after numerous phone calls I finally received a phone call back from the Psychotherapy team who said it had all been sorted and we would hear from them shortly. Nonetheless, that same week our GP informed us that the Psychotherapy team had written a letter to them, now stating that they feel my husband doesn’t meet their criteria either. My husband continues to have paranoid thoughts at times and he needs help. If he doesn’t receive some kind of treatment/therapy I am worried that he’s going to relapse and have another psychotic episode and after the experience/care we have previously received I really don’t want to see him back on a ward. After phoning Millbrook again this week and chasing, I have now been told that the CMHT currently have his referral and will be seeing him but the way we seem to be passed from one service/department to another… I don’t know what the outcome will be. I hate to complain but I feel that our last 6/7 weeks could have been a lot better managed and improvements are needed to improve the service to future patients.