Do not cut bed numbers
9:24am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Comment
IN The Bolton News recently, two stories have appeared about mental health services in Bolton. One was about cutting down the number of beds on a dementia ward and the second was about improving crisis team out of hours services after the death of a police officer.
On January 27, I asked to be admitted to one of the mental health wards as I was struggling to deal with an episode of severe depression and intense thoughts of harm. There are no beds in Bolton and there are none anywhere else within the mental health trust of Greater Manchester West. There are no crisis beds nor respite beds either.
Therefore, I ask: Why is Bolton losing 15 beds when there is such a shortage? Yes, they may not be on an acute mental health ward, but a ward is a ward especially when it can keep someone safe when they are in crisis. I am all for revamping the Redwood ward, but why do 15 beds across town have to be lost in the process?
My second issue refers to the sad story surrounding the death of PC Michael Wilson last October and how Christine Parker, assistant director for community services in Bolton, claimed a number of steps are now being taken to improve care. These improvements include having a better service for people who use the out of hours crisis team number, such as removing the answering machine service.
I made two calls to the crisis team and two calls failed to be answered. Two weeks ago, it took 15 attempts over several hours in the night to get someone to answer the phone on this service; all previous attempts were an answer machine. I have, however, logged an official complaint with Greater Manchester West in regards to this and I am aware they are now looking into the issues I have raised.
The amount of people in the country with mental health problems is escalating, yet the number of beds and other services are significantly being reduced.
Nevertheless, I am grateful to my care-coordinator for trying her ultimate best in attempting to get me the relevant support I needed, but sadly she cannot magic up a bed. Therefore, I am left alone to continue to deal with my thoughts, although I have agreed to a visit each day over the weekend from the crisis team.
Mental health service user Great Lever
