This is Care Opinion [siteRegion]. Did you want Care Opinion [usersRegionBasedOnIP]?
Care Opinion

Lack of care for PTSD in Lincolnshire

Posted By fenchy

"Lack of care for PTSD in Lincolnshire"

About: Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust / Adult mental health

(as the patient),

I was discharged from the military 2 years ago with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

I lived in Yorkshire then and had a course of Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) which was not successful so I was cared for by the long term care team and had a lovely CPN who gave me tremendous support.

I then moved to Lincolnshire and was referred on to the mental health team by my CPN. I was assessed in Lincolnshire and because I had already had EMDR was told there was no point in any more therapy and because I did not have bi-polar, a psychotic illness or a drink or drug problem there was no care available for me. They did not have a long term care team for PTSD in Lincolnshire. I got no help although I could not leave the house or properly care for myself.

I then moved to Leicester and again was put in the long term care team and again have tremendous support.

I feel strongly that Lincolnshire should provide long term support for people like me and not leave us with no support at all which is what happened to me. There seems to be a gap in care for people who have long term conditions where no one is responsible for providing care.

More about:
Do you have a similar story to tell? Tell your story & make a difference ››

Responses

Response from Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust 11 years ago
We have made a change
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 19/06/2012 at 14:59
Published on Care Opinion at 20:31

Thank you for providing feedback about your experiences of services provided by Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT). We are sorry that this has not been a positive experience.

LPFT aims to offer a comprehensive service to all people in the Lincolnshire catchment area who present with mental illness whatever the mental health diagnosis. LPFT does have dedicated and specialist teams who work with service users for time limited episodes of care. Length of time working with a team is determined by and varies according to need - many service users do work with the teams for extended periods of time.

LPFT has a comprehensive IAPT service which is able to offer focused treatments for common mental health problems and a psychology service for those requiring complex and specialist psychological support. The recovery service within LPFT has the remit (NSF Planning Implementation Guidance 1999) is to provide direct and on-going care for individuals with severe and enduring illness and is able to provide the following interventions:

• Continuity of care – with flexible contact frequency and good communication between care coordinator, service user, and GP

• Medication, including strategies to improve compliance with medication and side effect monitoring

• Support to meet of daily living needs – through identifying vulnerability and strategies which address these, including the provision of practical help

• Help in accessing local opportunities for work and education

• Emotional support

• Family and carer support and help, including assessment of carer’s needs, and behavioural family therapy for some families

• Psychological therapies for reducing the severity of symptoms, including CBT for psychosis, and for increasing resilience to cope

• Relapse prevention

• Physical health care

• Social Care prevention, reablement and self-directed support

Our Recovery teams do not offer EMDR, this does sit with Psychological Therapies. Clearly in this case you may well have been appropriate for services and should therefore have been picked up by either IAPT Services, Psychology or Recovery for further support and treatment. In the Trust, most areas now have Interface Meetings (weekly with representatives from each team/service in the locality) to discuss cases that are not clear cut with regards to who would provide a service precisely to stop anyone from falling through the net.

Update posted by fenchy (the patient)

Thank you for your impressive response. Sadly it all means nothing if it is not put into practice.

I was referred 4 times to your mental health team by my GP and never got past an assessment - I was clearly told on all four occasions that you did not provide long term support unless the person had bipolar or psychosis. Might I suggest that you let your Grantham staff know the information you gave me.

Opinions
Next Response j
Previous Response k