TW: self harm and suicide attempts.
I'm posting because I am deeply concerned about a loved one who has a history of mental illness and is suspected of having schizophrenia. This person has been severely unwell since January with multiple suicide attempts, disappearances (was found naked in a local park after vanishing for 18 hours), and episodes of psychosis (hallucinations and paranoid delusions). This person tried to slice their own nipple off with a razor because they thought maggots were inside it.
Police have been called to their home on multiple occasions for welfare checks and at one point had to smash their door down because the person had taken an overdose.
The person deeply wants to get well and actively engages with treatment. They appear to be compos mentis between episodes of psychosis (but deeply depressed) and very proactive in phoning up GP and phoning to ask for help.
But there seems to be no help available on the NHS. In four months of multiple suicide attempts and police callouts, this person has not yet been able to speak to a psychiatrist or any kind of mental health professional. During their first suicide attempt their GP sent them to A&E, where they were made to sit in a busy waiting room for two hours and allowed to walk out without being stopped despite staff knowing they were actively suicidal.
After their last suicide attempt they were told they'd receive an emergency phone call from a duty psychiatrist but that the emergency call might be delayed, they've just been told that emergency phone call will take place in August. A four month wait for an emergency phone call to an actively suicidal person?
This person urgently needs medication and wants and is willing to start taking medication, but is told they can't be prescribed anything without talking to a psychiatrist, but they can't talk to a psychiatrist until August.
My loved one has been fighting to get a prescription or some help since January.
Surely it can't be legal to deny an acutely unwell person medication for eight months?
I know the NHS is under strain but how can it be this bad? I feel like I'm watching someone slowly die right in front of me. Is there anything that can be done, to get some kind of emergency support so this person can access medication?