"Poor mental health care"

My child had a recent stay as an involuntary patient and unfortunately the care they received was, in my opinion, sub optimal. I believe they were not given appropriate care during their admission, poor or no communication between staff and family - including letting my child change their Next of Kin whilst acutely unwell.

As I understand it, the service did nothing to help my child upon discharge and were even prepared to change their status to voluntary to send them to a private facility when I believe they were not yet well enough. Discharge planning was not completed and as a result my child was homeless and without any form of income upon discharge.

We feel that better communication between staff and families is imperative to improve the service. People with mental health conditions often use behaviours such as triangulation and manipulation to get their needs met (something our child does often) and we as the family who live with it on a day to day basis can be the staff's ally if given a chance. We understand that different families have different levels of understanding in this space, however if family are willing to assist, I believe they should be listened too.

We felt alone and scared for our child's life, we felt bullied by the Doctors trying to discharge our child inappropriately and we felt we had to be confrontational in our approach to ensure our child was kept safe. In my experience, having private health and a private psychiatrist is not the answer to an exhausted Public health system, when someone is experiencing significant mental illness and involuntary status in the public health setting is appropriate then that should occur.

Our child would not have been safe to be discharged when staff were first trying to discharge them, they attempted their life several times whilst an inpatient - I feel that wasn't going to improve in a private facility. Now that my child is more stable they acknowledge the importance of being discharged too early and that had it occurred we may be facing a coroners inquest!

Please learn from this story as we are very concerned about individuals with mental health issues in our communities who need to be protected when unwell and vulnerable and don't always have families who understand or are capable of advocating for their needs. We acknowledge the strain in the public health setting (especially with COVID 19) but that does not mean sub standard care. I hope this is addressed before a sentinel event occurs at your facility.