Words from the Director

 

Have you noticed the building work around Cornwall Villa on the Chase Farm site?  This is the first phase of work to convert the building to an older people’s ward and thus free up Sussex Ward to receive patients from St Ann’s.  This will not take place before early next year but part of the first phase of development is nearing completion, namely the refurbishment of Somerset Villa.  The new Rehabilitation Service has been running with help from Together and ST John of God Care Services since last year and will really take off in July when the new Somerset Villa is opened.  This will be a smaller ward dedicated to long stay patients who need specialist help before returning to the community.  It will no longer be a dumping ground for acute patients from the other wards.  It aims to be a model of self determination by service users and we have been asked to represent user views both on the ward and in the community at a regular service user meeting in Somerset Villa.

 

There will also be a new beginning for day hospital services at both Edmonton and Chase Farm.  Both  services are to continue but be renamed and brought under a single management structure to harmonise procedures for referral, admission and discharge and, we hope, improve access.  Activities will be more varied and will extend over the full length of the day from 9 to 5.  However, service users will have to go elsewhere for drop-in facilities, possibly Park Avenue or Mind.

 

 

 new

 

 

 

 

Finally, if you wish to make a new beginning, why not consider the EMILIA project being launched by Middlesex University.  This is a programmme designed by service users for service users offering training in mental health issues either for interest or with a view to gaining part-time or full-time work in the mental health field.  Courses only involve attendance one day a week and extend from a month to six months, depending on the topic you choose.  At the moment the programmes take place on the university campus.  I have been involved in designing some of the programme and expect to teach some of it so I look forward to seeing you there.  Contact the office for details.

 

I also hope to see as many of you as possible at our summer social events, firstly our trip to Eastbourne and then in July our barbecue.  Please get your deposits for the trip (refundable when you turn up) to the office as soon as possible.  We had an enjoyable evening at our party in April with traditional English folk music provided by Shambolica.  Thanks to Carol Edwin, members of the Executive and the staff for all their hard work.  We hope the barbecue will be just as fun with music supplied by a different group from the North London Forensic Unit.  Do come along and support them.

 

Kate Holmes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melinda’s Report

 

Hi, I am going to start with some good news.  At last, the wards are going to have good tasty food.  It’s called steamplicity and it will take effect in about 8 months’ time.  It is the same food that is served in the Day Hospital’s Willows restaurant.  Portions will be larger and hopefully, it will be palatable.

 

Further good news, I am starting an outdoor meeting in Enfield Town Park it will be a support/advocacy meeting combined with playing some tennis.  It will start on Wednesday 13 June 2007 at 11.00am and we can meet at the Tennis courts behind Cecil Road.  It will be a new opportunity to get some exercise, both physically and mentally.  If it rains we can convene in the café in the park.  I hope a lot of you will come along as this meeting will replace the indoor meeting at Silver Street. and will be held at least once a month or as often as members wish during the summer months.  So bring along your tennis rackets and issues and I will be there.  It is a free meeting.

 

Now for the bad news.  Much as I have persevered, my efforts were in vain.  They are going to close the smoking rooms on the acute wards and Day Hospital.  Service users were overruled and the decision was made by non‑smoking health professionals.

 

It is unnecessary as there is a special dispensation to keep the smoking rooms for a further year, but this was unanimously voted as a no no.  I have written to the Chief Executive, John Newbury‑Helps, with a plea for him to reverse the decision. It is in his hands now.  If you feel strongly, then you should make your feelings known, perhaps also by writing to the John Newbury-Helps at Chase Farm Mental Health Trust.  If there is strong opposition, you may be listened to because of the dispensation clause.  It is a very thorny issue that the majority of you smoke; therefore you have a strong case.  In the meantime, you will be bombarded with anti-smoking propaganda.  It is your choice whether or not you want to give up smoking.  By bringing the decision forward, to shut down the smoking rooms, the Trust is forcing the issue and negating choice.  

 

Now for the progress of the Day Hospital review. In the recommendations made, there are four major changes. These are that there will only be one overall manager for the two sites; there will be faster referrals both in and out of the service; there will be more activities between 9-5 and, finally, there won’t be a drop-in at the Edmonton site. These recommendations are going for approval in the next few weeks to high level managers. If and when these are approved, then the Day Hospitals should continue to run. I will keep you posted.

 

Melinda Back

 

Christine’s Report

 

Well it is certainly good to see that all the hard work put in to keep the Day Hospital open has paid off. It is good to see that your voices have been heard.

 

Those Users attending the Fore Street Day Hospital have said that there have definitely been  improvements in the service.  They are happy with the groups that have been on offer to them.

 

We are still aware that there appears to be delays in patients being admitted to the day hospital though the pathways of admissions.

 

If there is to be no drop-in, at the Fore Street Day Hospital (C.H.M.T), you may be interested in an after hours club set up at the Green Towers Community Centre, off Plevna Road, between bay 4 -6 in front of South Mall. We meet on Mondays, hours 6-9pm  We would really like you to support this group. Particularly as many have said this is something they felt they needed. So why not come and chill out, may be play some dominoes among other things? Why not come and meet some other people? Don’t forget you can also voice your opinions.

 

 

Over 65s Advocates

 

They say time and tide wait for no man.  It is hard to believe that 6 months have passed since Priya and I started this project and I am sad that Priya has now had to leave for pastures new.  I would like to wish her all the best as she seeks her new life and work and to say we will always be pleased to see her if and when she has time.

 

So far everything is going well, Lazeron Ward and St Ann’s has had a make-over and is looking fresh and bright and the patients there are happy. Bay Tree House has lost their manager who has retired and we look forward to meeting and working with her replacement. 

 

The joint drop in and complementary therapy group started to pick up this month we had service users that came for therapy and stayed to chat and discuss their issues.  Please try to come along to the next EMU-EDA drop in, meet some new friends and have a refreshing massage or other complementary therapy.

 

Wishing you all well and hoping we have some good weather for all to enjoy.

 

Carol Kennedy

 

Celebration of Life

 

I saved my breath for a rainy day

Chain-smoking to take the pain away

I tasted the rain running down my face

And felt breathless in my breathing space

It’s such a waste, wasting away

 

I spent my time hiding from the sun

Losing my mind, inside the darkness won

I felt the sun’s rays upon my face

The time had come to leave my hiding place

And it felt great, escaping my fate

 

I had good times and sometimes were bad

Medication raised me but I felt sad

My youth had gone, though I was glad

To go from first to two time dad

Sometimes life can be magic

Sometimes it makes you mad

 

 

Poem by Terry Geering

 

 

Calling all poets and writers

 

The next drop-in on 25^th June will be a poetry workshop on the theme of midsummer led by a published poet, Kim Morrissey, who will be introduced by a member of our Executive, Islam Molla.

 

The following drop in on 23^rd July will be an opportunity to share stories about how we maintain recovery, despite our mental health condition, with a view to writing up the experience in a booklet to circulate at a conference we will be holding later in the year.

 

 

 

 

 

Joke

 

Man goes to Doctor

And says “my chest hurts”

Doctor exams with stethoscope

And says “you have 3 minutes left to live”

Man says “can you do anything for me”?

Doctor says “I can boil you an Egg”

 

BOOM BOOM

 

Given by Richard Perry

 

 

National Patient Survey

 

The Service User Questionnaire consists of eight pages of multiple‑choice questions.  On the final page, there is a box, measuring 8cm x 19.5cm, for additional comments.  The questions, for the most part, have three possible responses: “Yes, definitely”; “Yes, to some extent”; and “No”.  Straightforward enough, you might think.  And, in all fairness, it should be acknowledged that Quality Health could hardly have done more to facilitate my understanding.  So judicious is their use of UPPER CASE and bold type, it would be hard not to get the gist.  Take the following, for example:

The LAST time you saw a psychiatrist…

4.   Did the psychiatrist listen carefully to you?

      Yes, definitely

      Yes, to some extent

      No

5. Did you have trust and confidence in the psychiatrist you saw?

      Yes, definitely

      Yes, to some extent

   No

Still thinking about the LAST time you saw a psychiatrist…

6                    Did the psychiatrist treat you with respect and dignity?

            Yes, definitely

            Yes, to some extent

            No

 

Despite my very best efforts and a series of calls to the helpline number given in the letter, I am still struggling to fit my answers into the options available to me.  In short, I understand what they were asking, but my problem lies in how to respond.

 

The last time I saw a psychiatrist was a few days ago at the gym.  We exchanged a glance of recognition before electing to pretend we hadn’t.  But I don’t think that is what Quality Health had in mind.

 

My last meeting with a psychiatrist took place about two months ago.  We met, together with my social worker, in a poorly sound proofed room at the local community care centre.  I’d had to take my dog to the meeting.  The psychiatrist remarked on this in a manner I found irritating.  I also felt that she talked too much, and more than once she asked me something I had told her five minutes before.  On the plus side, she did not sit picking her teeth as I described my innermost feelings, nor did she discuss me like a cat at the vet’s, directing her comments to my social worker, both of which have happened with doctors in the past.

 

So did Dr X, as I will call her, listen carefully?  My immediate feeling is ‘No, not really,’ but this is not an option.  I wouldn’t say she did not listen at all; it is the ‘carefully’ bit I have issues with.  She listened, but not very carefully. But did she listen carefully ‘to some extent’?  I’m not sure what this means.  Did she listen a little bit carefully?  Or did she listen carefully a little bit?  I’m not convinced she listened carefully at all.  But she did listen.  And if I put ‘No’, they will think she did not, and that would be wrong.  My views are ‘very important’ so I need to get it right.  In the end, I cross out ‘carefully’ and tick’Yes, to some extent’.  This seems best to represent my position, though it is not strictly speaking, an option on the form, and I am not sure what Quality Health will make of it.

 

Now for trust and confidence.  Did I have trust and confidence in Dr X the LAST time I saw her?  Trust and confidence?  I’m starting to sweat.  Trust?  Would I lend her a fiver?  Yes.  Well, no, not after the dog thing, but she wouldn’t need it: psychiatrists are loaded.  And that is not what they mean.  Confidence, then.  Did I have confidence? And how about respect?  And dignity?  Did she treat me with dignity?  My eye wanders down.  There are 58 questions.  I take a break.  I am starting to panic.

 

In my experience, service users often have a lot to say about the care they receive- what works, what doesn’t, and how things might be improved.  Their workers have plenty to say as well, after years of experience on the frontline, dealing with issues as they arise, coping with the impact of changes dictated from above and generally speaking, these two groups agree.

 

This is not a scientific survey, mind, it is what I have observed.  The trouble is that what they have to say does not always fit neatly into boxes.  And it is not always what the powers that be want to hear.

 

The policy makers want figures to prove things are generally getting better, to prove that it does not matter if, according to the report by the mental health charity, Rethink, spending on mental health services is down ny #30m – a figure the Departimetn of Health disputes, putting the decrease at #16.5m

 

Who cares either way?  It is money well saved.  Just look at these statistics.  According to my trust’s annual report, Last year’s service user survey ‘showed that 95% of service users consider that their psychiatrist listens carefully to them and 97% feel that their psychiatrist treats them with respect and dignity.’  But what does this mean?  And does that include the “yes, to some extent’ answers as well as ‘Yes, definitely’  In other words, everthing other than “No.”

 

Of course, the problem of service assessment extends far beyond the field of mental health.  Star ratings and rankings increasingly invade every corner of service provision.  There is nothing, it seems, that cannot be measured and graded and shown to be improving.  But do these statistics tell us anything useful at all, or are they an attempt to simplify complex human experience to the point where it has no meaning?

 

Article by Clare Allan,  a regular column for Society Guardian. Read her book, ‘Poppy Shakespeare’ for an insider view of a day hospital.

 

Mental Capacity Act 2005

 

A new Act of Parliament came into force in April of particular interest to those of us who are deemed from time to time to lose our capacity to make decisions, the Mental Capacity Act.  Under this Act you should receive as much help as possible to make your own decisions and it is recognized that even if you do not have the capacity to make a complicated decision for yourself, this does not mean that you are unable to make more straightforward decisions.  In addition, even if somebody has to make a decision on your behalf, you must still be involved in this as much as possible.

 

Is all this music to your ears?  Perhaps to some extent but those detained under the Mental Health Act are exempt from this legislation.  It does, however, apply to voluntary patients.  There are two new provisions in the Act which apply to all of us.

 

First, if you do lose capacity and have to make a medical or financial decision but have no friends or relatives to act on your behalf, an advocate can be appointed known as an independent mental capacity advocate drawn from a local service run by Rethink.

 

Second, you can make an advance decision to refuse treatment if there is a particular medical treatment you would not wish to receive at a time in the future when you may lack capacity to refuse it.  An example would be if somebody is in a coma as a result of taking an overdose and has previously, when they were in sound mind, written down an advance decision in the presence of a lawyer that they do not wish to be resuscitated under any circumstances even though their condition may be fatal.

 

 An advance decision should not be confused with an advance agreement which gives directions to staff as to what should be done about your domestic affairs and family in the event of a hospital admission but lacks the legal force of an advance decision.  Please talk to your care co-ordinator about both advance decisions and advance agreements, if they do not mention them to you.

 

Kate Holmes

 

Whilst on Arran

Written on 18^th September 1984

 

Descending from the golden south Ben Nuis plateau, I looked ahead across the gulf of Glen Iorsa, where sleek grey hills rose in a line, solemn as trappist monks.  All of a sudden, sunlight burst again upon the slopes on which I stood.  Washing the flat boulders round about me in pale violet.  Plunging the steep slopes preceding the now purple domes of the solemn range ahead into inky shadows broken only by the stand of a line of waterfalls.  To the west, and slightly to my left, a string of lochans was silhouetted, spread-eagled on the floor of the lower valley.  This was Glen Iorsa, and the solemn hills the Bheinn Bharrain group.  Fetching water from the stream that evening, I thought I’d discovered a secret of the universe and danced around gleefully for a few moments.

 

Seldom have I seen mountain scenery so perfectly fashioned from the aesthete.  On the further side of the glen, the broad sweep of Goat Fell; its granite cap a pleasing modification of the conical mountain theme.  On the nearer side; the right, the stupendous rock castles of A’Chin springing vertically from mass green steeps.  A megalomaniac’s Mappin Terraces for the small ‘shoal’ of

red deer grazing on the heathery saddle at its foot, not more than 150 yards away.  Between runs the verdant strath of Glen Rosa with its ribbon of steam leading the eye, or so they say, to the grey pap of the Holy Isle beneath languorous, white edged clouds at anchor in a gold tarnished sea.

 

Frank Hayward