GP sent police to my house - is this normal? **trigger warning added by MNHQ: contains discussion of self-harm**

[CrazyKittenSmile]

On Thursday I went to A&E having self-harmed badly. I received 26 stitches for the cut and then saw the mental health team. I was calm and co-operative the whole time and the mental health team were happy to discharge me. It’s not unusual for me to require medical treatment for self-harming (I’d also been to A&E on Tuesday) and I always get my wounds treated and look after them. I’ve been clear that I’m not suicidal and have no intentions to kill myself when I self-harm. No history of suicide attempts or anything like that on my medical records.

On Friday I went to work as normal. My GP surgery tried to call me during the day at 11am, 2pm and then 5:55pm leaving 2 answerphone messages. I can’t use my phone at work and I didn’t notice these calls until 6pm, I tried to ring the surgery back but it was already closed and I just got the answerphone message signposting me to 111. No option to leave a message so I just forgot about it and figured I’d phone back Monday.

At 22:30 on Friday night I had a single policeman knocking at my door. He asked for me by name and said my GP surgery had sent him round to check on me. He asked to come in but only stayed for about 1 minute, I can’t really remember the interaction as the whole thing was a shock and I was feeling quite scared of what was going to happen. I’ve been having flashbacks from a few years and my last dealings with the police was reporting the assault which I don’t think helped me process what was happening as my mind was all over the place. But I guess he was satisfied I looked okay and happy to leave. I haven’t heard anything since.

Is this normal? I suffer from anxiety and the whole thing left me hugely shaken up when we I remember it. I hate having my private space invaded and I was home alone. I have been to A&E about 20 times over the last year and so my GP surgery had no reason to think I was at risk, I’m always fine afterwards and I had been seen by the mental health team on Thursday and discharged. I hadn’t done a runner from hospitalor anything.

What powers do the police have? Could he have sectioned me? Is this going on my record somewhere? Will it matter that my house was a mess and that I probably was acting nervously? I’m scared now that I’m known to the police that this might happen again. I’m also scared I will go into work on Monday and find out the police have been in or something. I don’t want to stop getting my wounds treated as they’re usually very deep (sometimes needing internal as well as external stitches) but I don’t want to risk having the police involved again. Is it likely to happen again? I don’t know if I should change surgeries or if it’s just as likely to happen with a different GP? If i go to A&E under a false name and name a fake GP surgery is this fraud?

Take care, I hope you get more help than diazepam and ad's this time.

You truly dont have to keep living like this, sadly very many are as a result of lack of funds and agencies to support everyone that needs it.

You are doing amazing to be working and keeping going as you are. I really hope this is the turning point for you.

You sound completely traumatised and yes, to have shorter term therapy is going to make things worse. You should expect some really good long term therapy and that psychiatrist has wasted a lot of NHS funding then left you hanging.

You have found a way of coping that gets you through, but it is very risky and makes you a risk to yourself, which could have you sectioned, but as pps have said it actually hard to get sectioned!

Really hope everything comes good for you at the GPS and you can start to hope for better for yourself very soon

Ask for a second opinion psychiatrist wise. Explain about the leading questions to your GP.

Hey CrazyKittenSmile

I hope you are okay.

I agree with others that the police check does sound reasonable given the circumstances. The police can be frightening but they are not there in a threatening or law-enforcing role when they are doing a welfare check.

I can relate to the challenges of seeking support when you are working full time and also generally quite with-it. The whole merry-go-round can seem maddening and to result in little support in the end, as you have found. In your situation it is tricky. Getting a referral from your GP to the mental health team might be helpful. You could also research the services in your area and see if there is anything that you think might be helpful. I have found being a bit creative and resourceful as a mental health patient, and also willing to try lots of different things to work out what works for me rather than rejecting everything assuming it won't work, have both been helpful routes for me to go down, even if they are not easy or even possible some of the time.

Can you research local counselling services that could see you for cheaper? I work for a relationship counselling service but we offer individual therapy under the umbrella of “difficulties forming relationships” (could be due to trauma in the past). But people might assume they can’t access our therapy if they’re not in a relationship. We also have no set price- and work for as little as £10/15 a session.
Also women’s aid or similar might be able to signpost you to a women’s service?
As a counsellor myself I am so frustrated that there are very few opportunities for work locally as I would be more than happy to work for £15-25 a session myself... maybe I need to set up privately.

OP do not apologise for using A&E.
The issue here is actually how sad it is that our NHS is so pushes you cannot access ongoing MH services to help you.

We should all be concerned at how stretched our NHS.

Have you found anything in this thread useful?

Sorry pressed send too quickly

Good luck for Wednesday

Sorry to revive this but wondering very much how you’re doing, OP?

Sounds a good GP surgery. Standard welfare check on the back of failed contact. It’s nothing really, just a check in because the GP was unable to but had concerns for your well-being