Extremely poor care given
On Monday 3rd April 2023, I took my friend, to Preston A&E, as she had self-harmed significantly and was expressing suicidal thought and intent to act. She had been discharged from Cygnet Neild House (psychiatric hospital) on Friday 31st March 2023. We were seen by the triage nurse who redressed her self-harm and checked her vitals. Her heart rate was extremely high. We were then seen by someone from the mental health team who took some basic details and just touched based with us, so we knew we had not been forgotten about. At 10:25pm, we were seen by someone from the Mental Health Team. From the get-go, they was short and abrupt in her manner and did not seem to care at all about my friend and her welfare, did not ask any in-depth questions as to why we were here or what led us here. She explained she had read the notes and wasn’t able to do anything about the self-harm as that is something that my friend controls. She also said she would not be admitting her into hospital. They noted that she had missed two calls from Home Treatment team that day, and she explained this was because she was in A&E. They ignored this point and went on to say that she needs to engage with them. My friend was understandably annoyed at this point and said to them “right well you’re basically saying there’s nothing you can do for me so I should just go and kill myself.” They replied by saying she was going to give her some phone numbers to ring. My friend explained this would not be able to keep her safe and she walked off. They handed me the phone numbers and did not follow us out of the meeting. I was not happy with them or the care/treatment she had given my friend. I asked reception if we could speak to someone else, and she told us to go and speak to the nurse. The nurse sent us down to the Avondale unit to speak to the mental health team. When we arrived at the Avondale Unit, we pressed the button on the intercom. Someone answered and I explained I wanted to speak to someone as I wasn’t happy with the treatment we had just received, then went onto explain he had spoken to the other person and there was nothing more we could do for her. I pointed out that I hadn’t said my name, or my friends name and he could be talking to anyone, he’s just assumed he knows who it is and broken GDPR and patient confidentiality. To which he replied, “I know exactly who it is, and you can’t get someone else’s opinion.” I explained to them that if my friend was to be left alone right now, she would kill herself, to which they replied, “if she kills herself, it would be her own fault.” I expressed my disbelief and anger at how a member of a mental health team can say that to such a vulnerable person who was already in a vulnerable position. They then stopped speaking to us. We went onto ring home treatment team, who explained to us that there was nothing they could do, and if she still felt that way, she should ring an ambulance. As we were already at Preston Hospital, and did not want to waste ambulance time, we rang 111. We were put through as top priority and a doctor told us he thought it best to return to A&E. We did so, and as we were walking into A&E we were approached by two police officers. Apparently, the hospital had phoned the police as they were concerned for her welfare, even though they had just happily sent us home. I believe the overall treatment and support my friend received from the mental health team at Preston hospital was diabolical. The lack of empathy and the things that were said to an already vulnerable young person, were unforgiveable and quite frankly, I don’t think these people should be allowed to work in such a field.