Can anyone advise re community mental health etc?

[SolidGoldBrass]

My friend has a major MH problem going on at the moment (paranoia, depression, self harm, convinced people are out to get her). She's supposed to be having daily appointments, but apparently the people looking after her have lost her notes and are not listening to her, she doesn't want to talk on the phone but her messages to me on Facebook are a bit worrying, I can't just go and get her and bring her to mine for the night, is there a general emergency number I can suggest she rings if she feels really bad? And what are the procedures for getting a second opinion with MH issues if you think you are not being listened to or properly treated?

[becksydee]

there are a couple of options your friend could try. first is trying to get the community mental health team to pull their finger out by going through the mental health trust's PALS (patient advice & liaison), or even the complaints department. the contact details should be on the trust website.

losing notes is not a reason for not keeping to an agreed care plan, and i'd be very surprised if most of the information in any paper records wasn't also recorded electronically, especially any documents relating to your friend's CPA (care programme approach), which would outline the plan of care & should state the intention to offer daily appointments.

your friend may also be able to get support from an independent mental health advocate to get the CMHT to provide the help she needs. as she's not sectioned or being assessed with a view to being sectioned she, unfortunately, has no statutory right to advocacy, but most areas now have an advocacy service that supports people in the community.

emergency help will vary from area to area - the mental health trust may have an out of hours number she can call, or she may have access to a crisis resolution/home treatment team (although it sounds as if she doesn't ). in the absence of a phone number, the only way to access help out of hours would be to present at a&e and ask to see one of the psych liaison nurses or on-call psychiatrist, although i wouldn't recommend this - unless she's lucky, she will end up sitting in the waiting room for 3hrs 50mins before being seen.

some of the voluntary sector helplines might be helpful in the interim:

national self-harm network: 0800 622 6000
bristol crisis service for women: 0117 925 1119
SANEline: 0845 767 8000

[SolidGoldBrass]

thank you beckysdee. i will leave the info on her answerphone ( she won't pick up when she's dodgy) and pass it on to DS dad who is going round there tomorrow to continue redecorating for her...

[moaningminniewhingesagain]

NHS Direct 0845 4647 have phone numbers of the local Mental Health Crisis teams too, but provision can be a bit patchy. They may be able to help a bit though, give you a bit of general advice.

[dearprudence]

In our area there is a Crisis Team and regular CPNs for whom I have contact numbers. I have a close family member who suffers with mental health issues. When things get bad, I call the Crisis Team and let them know my concerns, and usually they take pretty prompt action

Can't advise how to get these numbers - I know it took a couple of years and several episodes before I got a reliable phone number/support plan. I think in the end I got it from one of the CPNs.

Are you trying to avoid calling on your friend's behalf? Personally, I've found it can help to have a third party offering their opinion. In the last instance, the CPN had seen my relative on a Tuesday but didn't flag up anything being wrong. By Thursday, when I saw him it was obvious to me (because I know him) that things were getting quite bad. I called CPNs on Friday morning and they'd seen him, arranged medication and set up daily visits by the end of that day.

Don't know if this helps at all or if it's just ramblings, but I'll hit post anyway, just in case. Good luck.

[becksydee]

do NHS direct really have phone numbers for crisis teams, minnie? it surprises me because they seem to regard them as being very precious, closely guarded secrets, only to be shared with a select few people. but it's good to know that there is another way to access them.

SGB - also meant to say that i know quite a few people who have had success in getting a decent service by involving their MP, but your friend should try advocacy / PALS / formal complaint first. good luck, hope it all gets sorted out quickly.

[moaningminniewhingesagain]

Yes, they do have them. Some of them are only for patients 'already known to mental health services', some of them can be accessed more freely.

If the OP's friend is having daily appointments, or supposed to be, then they are likely to be 'known' to the local MH service, at a guess.