Friend been sectioned - terrible treatment so far. Is this normal?

[franticallyjugglinglife]

Hi. I have no experience of mental illness, and google not giving me much joy. Thought I'd turn to the font of knowledge that is mumsnet. Sorry for v long post.

My friend's husband left her at the beginning of August. She has not been coping well with it, and a few days ago she tried to commit suicide. Following the attempt she was admitted to hospital and blood tests revealed she hadn't really taken enough to do any permanent damage but she was kept in for obs. That evening she walked out of the hospital in the clothes she stood up in with no phone or money. It took the hospital 4 hours to realise she was gone and then the police were alerted. She was found at a friends house the following afternoon (she'd been there whole time), and voluntarily went for psych assessment. Whilst waiting for the assessment the ex turned up (as her nearest relative) and she ended up running away from the unit. At this point police restrained her, social worker was called and she was sectioned under section 2. :(

The unit she is in is miles away from her home due to space. She has been in there since weds eve, and can't remember anything about the two days prior. In all honesty she now appears back to her old self (albeit v sad and v scared), but I appreciate that she is ill and needs help. Since admission, she has seen a mental health nurse twice, for 20 mins a time. No psych appointment until next Tuesday. They have withdrawn her ADs which she has been on for over eight years. There are errors in her admission notes (they say she did attempt in front if children, but she didn't) and as a result they are withholding all contact with children - this is despite ex h calling them twice to tell them to correct it. She is asking questions of the nurse when she sees her, but they are not giving her any information about process, or next steps.

So my questions are...

*is it normal to wait for so long for psych appt once sectioned?
*can we accelerate process by going private? If so, how?
*is it normal to withdraw ads?
*is there anything she can do to just get a phone call to her children?

There are loads of other issues with her care in this place around food, cleanliness etc, but that can be dealt with later. I just want to help her get the treatment she needs as quickly as possible. I fail to understand how locking someone up in this hideous unit without treatment for nearly a week can help her get better.

Any advice welcome. Thank you all. x

Hi
I'm sorry to hear about your friend, it is a horrible thing to see someone go through. I can't answer all your points, but a couple I have recent experience of. My dh was admitted a couple of months ago after an overdose. They took away all his medication pending seeing the psychiatrist. On the ward, the doctors only saw patients once a week on ward rounds, so if the round was the day before you we're admitted it would be almost a week til you were seen. So it is perhaps not unusual. I know my dh was left with no medication, and unable to sleep & therefore frantically distressed, for 2 nights before being seen.
The most helpful person I found on his ward was the ward manager. If you can get a private chat with them and ask them to explain all the conditions that your friend is being kept in under, they may be able to shed light in the phone call issue. It seems to me, still trying to deal with community mental health services, that sometimes the only way to get things moving is to keep going on at them and go to the senior levels. Not that people don't care, but are under resourced and individual care suffers. We haven't investigated private so I don't know how that works.

I hope things improve for your friend very soon
X

Who is her next of kin? Can they have a word with her GP & see if he/she can help.
They may be able to get all the questions answered for her a lot quicker.

Tell her to ask to see an advocate and appeal the section. They have misidentified her nearest relative, for a start, if they consulted/informed the ex.

Thank you all. Isn't her nearest relative/nok her husband though? They're not divorced yet, and he only left less than a month ago? I think part of the issue is that while he wouldn't want to see harm come to her, he is focused on their children and has disengaged from her and her treatment, so perhaps she hasn't got the support she needs from someone outside who can influence her care.

Good advice re ward manager. I will speak to them when I trek up there to see her Sunday.

Her next of kin would be her mother or father if they are not around a sibling the oldest .

Second what acrylic says - your friend has the legal right to see an IMHA (Independent Mental Health Advocate) who can explain her rights and how to assert them if needs be. The ward should have information on the service (if you are in England - not sure how this extends to Scotland, Wales & NI).

Seconding seeing the Independent Mental Health Advocate, this is a statutory provision, they only see people under section, though they are overloaded atm (surprise).

I have had ADs withdrawn when admitted, I was hypomanic so they could have been exacerbating this. But last time was on them again by the time I left (just a 5 day assessment though, not a section).

I think her next of kin for mh purposes may well be her husband. I looked it up the other day, as I am now divorced from mine.

It often seems to be that in hospital you are waiting around for what seems like forever to see a psych. But in the meantime staff will be observing your friend and this info will all help.

There is no family - no parents or siblings. This is part of the reason she has found the split so far, she feels totally on her own.

I will investigate the advocate. Thank you. Navigating your way around a part of the system I have no experience of is hard! :)

So hard.

I think in fact that the process of assessment may take a few days - and rightly so. The aim being to find out how your friend's state is underlyingly without meds iyswim?

I so sympathise re the children. When I was in in 2003 my then H refused to let me see the children "to protect them from seeing you like that". I realise your friend's case is different, but the anguish is the same. At least her H seems to be on her side over this one.

If they are both in clear agreement that they are separated, he is definitely not her nearest relative. Nearest relative is a legal term as defined under the Mental Health Act and distinct from next of kin (who you choose, effectively).

It is quite important that they ascertain whether she has a nearest relative. Nearest relatives have various legal powers, which can be important. For example, they can demand that their loved one is discharged from hospital, among other things, and this must be heeded, unless the hospital can argue that it would be dangerous to comply. As I understand it from what you've said, she is separated from her partner/husband, has no children over 18, parents or siblings. Does she have grandparents, aunts or uncles, nieces or nephews (over 18) in the UK? If so, one of them is likely to be her nearest relative. If not she is likely to have no NR under the act.

Mental health wards usually have lists of solicitors who will help people to appeal their section. If she is on a section 2 it should be heard within a week.

There are no blood relatives at all. I went to see her today and advised re Mental Health Advocate, she is going to call them on Monday. I don't honestly know if appealing the section is the right thing to do. She appears fine now, but did seriously lose it for 48 hours and can't remember any of it. I still think she needs care and support, I just think this particular unit seems awful - but don't know if that's normal or not. . It's so difficult.

Thank you all for your advice so far. Really helpful.

your a good friend frant hope it gets better for your friend

You're a lovely friend. Amazing.

She is entitled to a tribunal and it can be a helpful process- the tribunal will only discharge her if they think it is safe to do so.

Sounds like she doesn't have a NR.

It may be worth her friends kicking up a stink about the hospital and asking for her to be moved to her local psychiatric hospital as a priority.

Thank you. They are both amongst mine and dh's oldest friends. Godparents to our children. Holidays together for years. It's heartbreaking to see this happen to them :(

I think I will see how she gets on with advocate on Monday then someone has suggested PALS if no joy?

Thanks again all. x

I don't know if this is any help, but last time I was in hospital I saw several people, who have tried a serious suicide attempt, discharged when they saw psych for the first time. They had been sectioned but got discharged within one week. I don't know if this was due to great need for beds or if they got better quickly, though.