jimiack your post was interesting. I'm wondering what your job is although you may not want to say and I understand that. I am sure you are aware that the NHS is "on its knees" and we have the BMA telling us (and the govt) that it is heading for a crisis, but the govt aren't listening and now we have Jeremy Hunt wanting junior doctors working every hour that god sends and trying to bamboozle them by giving them a pay rise but lower pay for the unsociable hours. If I have to go to hospital I don't want to be seen by a doctor who has worked for 15 hours.
Then there is the crisis in mental health. A tiny percentage of the budget allocation to the NHS is allocated to mental health. Maybe you know the figures - I can't just bring them to mind. SO when MH staff are "up against it" they are only going to be able to see people with complex mental illnesses, or severe and enduring. There is an absolute crisis in IP care - many patients are having to go to hospitals miles away from their home, which can only increase their emotional distress. GPs work 12 hour days and see around 40 patients a day, which is ridiculous - small wonder that all they can do is write a prescription for pills.
There are long waiting lists for counselling and then it is usually 6 sessions of CBT which isn't appropriate for many people. Monkeybabies says she doesn't blame the staff, it's the system that's at fault. Many posters on the MH threads have a diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable PD and I think so many fall through the cracks, as there is no specific medication. The therapy that seems to work best is BDT but it's not available for many patients.
I consider myself relatively fortunate - I have a recurring depressive disorder (which can be severe) and I have a very supporting GP, an excellent CPN and see a psychiatrist on a monthly basis. However the one that was appointed at the beginning of the year has now left and there is a locum consultant psychiatrist but only until December, and I'm not sure what will happen after that. I am currently on lithium where I need weekly blood tests so am a little concerned about how they will be monitored when there is no psychiatrist. I am on 2 ADs but they are not very affective and the lithium doesn't seem effective, though I have to give it more time.
I just wanted to say something about suicidal thoughts. So many times on the MH threads anyone who says they are having these thoughts, they are urged to "phone someone" or go to A & E. The thing is suicidal thoughts (suicide ideation) is a symptom of depression and so we are going to have these thoughts, and I certainly have them, and have made plans, but don't think I'll ever go through with it. Last week the psychiatrist was asking about this and I told him, and about my plan and he simply wrote it down in the notes. I think some people think if someone is having these thoughts they will immediately be admitted and taken care of, and as you know, this is not the case.
I have been on IP twice, both times for 3 months and on each occasion it was the same. Staff who didn't even bother to introduce themselves, nurses who were always in the office, or busying themselves with meds. The nurses never talked to us and the nursing assistants who had to sit with the patients used to talk to each other over our heads or around us. One particular NA was a bully and very intimidating. I complained to the CQC but nothing has changed apparently.
Sorry folks, I know so many of us are having a tough time.