"Northampton NHS Trust Clinical Psychology department closed, patients abandoned"

In October 2011, Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust closed their service for Clinical Psychological patients and at the time the trust stated that it would be in contact with patients affected by this closure.

Local newspapers covered the news of the closure http: //www. northamptonchron. co. uk/news/health/patient-dismay-as-unit-at-northampton-general-hospital-is-condemned-1-3034421

At the time I was a patient of this service, receiving treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which in itself was caused by problems with treatment in another department within the hospital.

I was informed of the closure approximately 3 weeks before the event and despite the hospital’s promise to advise patients of how their future care would be provided, to date I have not receive this information.

I have attempted to resolve this problem ( and others ) myself, including written communications to the Chief Executive of the trust on 3 separate occasions. Once in 2011 to which I received no response, once in 2012 to which a response was received, however this response made no reference or mention of the psychology service, and the third written this year, which again I have yet to receive any response or acknowledgement of this letter. All 3 of these letters have been sent to the hospital on my behalf by the office of my local MP.

I have recently been in contact with a former senior member of staff who tells me that I am not the only person to have contacted them about this matter, however they no longer work for the NHS and is unable to assist.

I feel that I have exhausted all avenues of inquiry and so feel that I have no choice but to try to draw attention to this problem in a public forum.

I will not go into detail about the psychological issues created by the hospital but am certainly willing to do so if it would be of use in explaining the extent of the problems caused by the removal of the service.

It has been very difficult to write this as people with any psychological disorder are often too easily labelled and preconceptions are drawn without understanding the individual. It is my hope that by drawing attention to this issue that I can shine a spotlight on both the broken promises made by the hospital and also the suffering that this has caused to myself and no doubt to other patients too.

There are no words to define how it feels to beg an NHS trust to help a patient who depended on their service, why should someone have to fight for so long to obtain help? Is it right that a patient who follows the rules and does not make a fuss should be abandoned? As a patient I have been left with only 1 choice and I will not go gently into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.