Harrowing mental health report lays bare the lack of support available in York

A new report from Healthwatch York, brings to light a number of tragic cases where people who have been severely struggling with their mental health have been shoved to the sidelines, denied of any access to worthwhile help across the northern city.

Today a new report, titled ‘Breaking Point: A recent history of mental health crisis care in York’, has been released. The document found that services are struggling to support people, some of whom feel they have been failed at all levels.

Although there were stories of excellent care, and staff going above and beyond to help individuals, many people shared experiences of feeling dismissed and stigmatised when they were in crisis.

When writing the report, which can be found in full here, Healthwatch York focused on qualitative information and heard from more than 60 people who have experienced crisis mental health care in the past five years.

Overall, Healthwatch conducted 29 in-depth interviews collecting 59,611 words and 410 specific statements about mental health crisis care: 55 positive (13%) 320 negative (78%) and 35 ideas (9%).

One distressing example from the research comes from patients who had been admitted into a York-based hospital but failed to receive any significant assistance.

Foss Park Hospital, a 72-bed facility which was purpose-built for people with mental health problems, featured heavily in the report as authors found it ‘has been a site of several disturbing incidents involving patients with mental health issues.’

The authors wrote: ‘The first story mentioned is about a young woman who attempted suicide and was admitted to Foss Park only to be discharged and attempt suicide again.

‘When the police found her, there were no ambulances available to transport her, so she had to wait in a police van for hours before being seen by a paramedic. Another young girl who was discharged from Foss Park completed suicide shortly after leaving the hospital.

‘Some patients appear to have been neglected after being discharged from Foss Park.

‘Overall, these stories paint a picture of a hospital that has struggled to meet the needs of some patients and has failed in some circumstances to provide adequate care to people with acute mental health needs.’

The authors also spoke to people who had ended up at A&E in York Hospital. The report claimed that there seemed ‘to be a lack of understanding of mental health issues in A&E or the capacity to deal with them.’

The authors noted: ‘We found people being discharged with their physical health issues treated, but without adequate treatment for their mental health concern.

‘We found inconsistent and sometimes judgmental attitudes from healthcare providers, inadequate follow-up care, lack of communication and coordination between different healthcare teams, and dangerous assumptions made about patients’ situations.’

In addition to these two devastating cases, the report also discovered:

• A need for ‘more integrated and holistic approaches to treating addiction and mental health issues’
• A need for improved communication between mental health teams
• That community support services can be very effective when they are delivered by people with lived experience of mental health challenges
• People feel that crisis is disjoined and inflexible
• Many people in crisis experience long waiting times and inadequate responses when calling crisis lines

Siân Balsom, manager at Healthwatch York, said the report was not an easy read.

She said: ‘It evidences the challenging recent history of mental health crisis support in York and the significant gaps and issues we are all too aware of and are seeing both locally and nationally.

‘The report highlights how important it is to improve services. We must look to the future, build on some of the changes that give glimmers of hope and create services that delivers better care for people when they most need help.

‘It is vital that the voices and experiences of people who have accessed crisis care, or been unable to, are part of the process to develop services that work for everyone.

‘They must sit alongside those who buy our services and those delivering them to create a crisis service worthy of the name.’

Image: Sarah