Mental Health Services often Abusive

Sharon Moore November 23, 2011

Patients who are suffering from acute mental illnesses are usually mistreated by the hospital staff in England and Wales. This is according to the latest report from Mind, the leading mental health charity in England. Based on the report, patients have dirty wards and at times, their nurses use undue force while giving them aid.

More often than not, people who seek for help call emergency hotlines but are left unanswered. There were cases where patients were denied access to the hospital for the only reason that they fall short on hospital beds.

To obtain the results, Mind conducted a study from 2010 to 2011 which involves a series of interviews to more than 400 patients and hospital staff. 250 of which have received direct treatment of the harsh healthcare services. According to them, the ‘inhumane’ treatment of hospital personnel to the patients is getting worse.

In connection with this, the charity urges the NHS to review the services provided by healthcare institutions in UK to ensure that patients are given the respect, care, and hospitality that they need. According to Paul Farmer, the Chief Executive of the Mind, people who are experiencing mental problems experience long waits for medical assistance, poor quality of healthcare, and sometimes, they don’t even receive help at all. He further added that these people don’t actually demand too much. What they simply want from the healthcare institutions they’re in is to get the treatment when they needed it, experience a conducive hospital environment, ensure their safety, and have somebody to talk to.

Inhumane Treatments

Mind highlighted several issues that are faced by many patients in mental hospitals. One of which is the inconvenience of calling the emergency lines. Aside from being unanswered, they often get wrong advices. For instance, they will be told to take a walk or take a warm bath. During their stay in the hospital, patients complain about having insufficient therapy treatments while the nurses and medical staff are saying that they are extremely stressed out. There even came a point where some patients became too caught up with their situation that they chose to end their lives instead of receiving unfair treatments.

The Duty of Care

Because of this very debilitating report, the charity emphasized the duty of care that healthcare professionals as well as the social workers should always give importance to. While it is true that all healthcare institutions have their own guidelines to follow when it comes to proper care and treatment of the patients, it’s very distressing to know that not all of them are following these riles. Mind Charity warned that contravention to these guidelines can constitute neglect of duty.

The report has been made for the people who are suffering from mental illnesses and those who have received healthcare and social services from the past. The charity added that the report can also serve as a reminder to the people working for the social and healthcare industry and all other concerned members of the public that the patients need some care too.

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