Its getting close to my economics and politics exams and the low mood is really knocking my confidence, I am struggling to concentrate so I do not know how I will manage to complete the paper and I have not managed to do any meaningful revision so far. My school has offered to pull me out of the exam and to apply for my predicted mark to become my real one through special consideration but that feels like cheating.
The main problem I have with CAMHS recently is my areas lack of out of hours support. I went from being on fifteen minute checks on the acute ward to nothing for two days, it was a big jump. That couped with awful exam results from my January resits, my mood dropping even more landed me back onto the acute ward. I know for adults they have a crisis telephone line and a dedicated crisis assessment and treatment team that is 24/7, but for those under the age of eighteen there is nothing. I picked a random NHS trust (not my local one) and they state ”we do not provide a crisis or out of hours service however young people requiring urgent medical attention should attend their nearest A & E department. NHS Direct is also available on 0845 4647, non-urgent messages can be left on our answerphone which will be picked up the next working day”. In 2007 30% of CAMHS teams were unable to provide weekend support and 9% could not provide on call support. It is known that the majority of mental health crisis’s escalate at night when services are unavailable and it is during the night that Samaritans gets the highest levels of calls. So why should difficult times be treated differently depending on the time of day and for people of different age. There would be outrage if mental health units were unstaffed at night so why should those who are struggling in the community and hospital is being talked about be any different. If someone from CAMHS is worried about me then it is ok for them to call my parents and drag them home from work and then to continue to bombard me with phone calls later in the day but the second it is outside office hours I am then left by myself.
While out of hours support probably would not have “saved” me from many overdoses as I was so sure of my actions at other times when i was really struggling a crisis telephone number would be more than useful. Under the outreach team I get visits at home twice a week and go to my local health center for an appointment once a week and I can call anyone during the day and be pretty confident that someone I know will be available to talk to but once the office clock hits five (or four thirty on fridays) there is nothing you can do short of turning up at A & E.
Once in hospital my area has an agreement with the adults crisis team who can organise admission Into hospital but if you are not that ill then I have heard that all they can do is put a message in your care notes for someone to call you on the next working day. This is why I understand why people call mental health care in the NHS a “Cinderella service”. While I do complain about the service I receive at least I do get some help.
last line…
Did anyone see Mary Queen of Shops on BBC1 on tuesday, while a great programme and very entertaining, calling the failing boutique owner mad and manic while personal shopping in Evans was derogative, uncalled for and stigmatising.
10 Comments
June 11, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Manic:
1. An excessively intense enthusiasm, interest, or desire; a craze: a mania for neatness.
2. Psychiatry A manifestation of bipolar disorder, characterized by profuse and rapidly changing ideas, exaggerated sexuality, gaiety, or irritability, and decreased sleep.
3. Violent abnormal behavior.
It’s a word with multiple meanings. I mean, you call people ‘mad’ when they’re angry, you call people ‘manic’ when they’re full of energy. Their psychiatric meanings are something separate.
But that programme was soooo funny… “Me? Sizeist? You’re sizeist, you skinny bitch!” Er – so maybe I imagined that last bit.
Suzy x
June 11, 2008 at 4:35 pm
They definatly called her sizeist, i remeber that bit really well. I can just imagine her driving people out of ger shop with her crazy remarks about bullet bodies and also limitling the plus sized population with her fitness classes. In the guardian yesterday G2 I am pretty sure that they said she had a rare form of body disporphic disorder where you like your own body but hate everyone elses. But i may be wrong
June 12, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Seven hits!
Suzy x
June 12, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Hi & thanks for your comment on my blog.Thought I’d have a nosey here (I have linked to your blog.)
Out of hours services suck even in adult mental health.That said I cannot believe there is a gap in the Camhs service, it’s absolutley ridiculous.I have once had cause to ring the GP out of hours & ask them to put me in touch with the Crisis Team – I’ve never had problems with contacting them for anything else.The doctor on the other end was really not very helpful & asked me questions like “why do you need to speak with them?” (erm I feel suicidal & have explained that already) “they never answer their phones/get back to us ” & best of all “can’t you wait til Monday ?” (erm no it was Saturday & I was feeling very suicidal).I did get a call from the Crisis Team after slamming phone down on this silly cow & they was really helpful thankfully.
Good luck with the exams.
Seratonin Sister.
June 12, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Lack of out of hours support from CAMHS is something I can really relate to. I had the exact difficulties in seeking help and support out side of office hours when I was being treated by a CAMHS team. I remember once being in serious crisis and being bounced from out of hours social services to out of hours GP services and back again. In the end the on-call child psychiatrist consultant visited and prescribed Melleril (?). Having a dedicated service for CAMHS, someone I could have talked to, would probably have meant having a major tranquilliser prescribed (to a child) was not necessary. The whole thing was a shambles.
However, I can also relate to ‘Seratonin Sister’s’ experience above with out-of-hours GPs etc who like her, couldn’t understand why (despite being in a mental health crisis) I couldn’t wait until Monday. Overall though, I receive a much better service than I did with CAMHS.
June 15, 2008 at 9:30 am
[...] try to post twice a week about anything that I fancy and every Thursday I will look in detail at an areaof the mental health services. The next one is going to be on the referral process to CAMHS, but if [...]
June 17, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Hey,
I found your blog from your comment on Mentally Interesting. I’m 17 and I have 24 hour support from my CMHS Crisis Team. Surely your area has a Crisis Team?
June 17, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Seratonin- I am sorry that your areas crisis team are bad, in august/september I am being refered up to adults. I havnt heard many people who have had good experiences with CMHT so I am not expecting very much.
There and back- a major tranquiliser, if only there were good out of hours teams for CAMHS and so much of this heavy medication could be avoided
Ellie- you are so lucky having a 24 hour team. They have a crisis team for adults but not adolecents. In my area the most support you can have other than hospital is the outreach team who I am under who help people instead of being in hospital or to support you when you leave hospital nd they are office hours only., however next month CAMHS users will be able to use the out of hours crisis number run by CMHT. At the moment all you can do is turn up at a&e and ask to speak to the on duty mental health team.
June 19, 2008 at 9:02 am
[...] the limelight- Referrals 19 06 2008 Having highlighted the problem with out of hourssupport at CAMHS I am now doing a series of posts about the CAMHS system so thought I would start [...]
June 19, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I have to admit I am shocked to read of the very little support on offer to people under 18, I really would not have known that if your post had not talked about it. It’s rather poor to say the least!