Fewer than half of mental patients always feel safe on wards
The biggest national survey of care on mental health wards has found that many people felt let down by services.
The Care Quality Commission surveyed over 7500 people recently discharged from 64 NHS trusts in England. Less than half (45%) said they always felt safe on the ward. Thirty-nine per cent sometimes felt safe and sixteen per cent did not feel safe at all.
Only a third of patients felt involved in decisions about their care and treatment, and a similar percentage said there was too little to do on weekdays. More than half (54%) said there was too little to do at weekends and in the evenings.
More than half (52%) wanted access to talking therapies such as counselling or anxiety management, but fewer than half of those who wanted such therapies reported getting them.
However, most patients felt they were treated with dignity and respect, although only half said they were always given enough time to discuss their condition with psychiatrists.
"This survey shows us that there is considerable room for improvement in patients' experiences of acute inpatient mental health services, and that there remains a particular need to ensure that services are focused on meeting the needs of people as individuals," said the chair of the Care Quality Commission, Barbara Young. "It is not acceptable for people to feel unsafe in hospital or for them not to be to given basic information about their care and treatment. "All trusts must provide a therapeutic environment in which patients can feel safe and recover."
Phil Hope, the care services minister, said: "It's good news that 73% of people described their care overall as good, very good or excellent. It's also important to remember that nearly half of the people who responded to this survey had been detained under the Mental Health Act and had severe mental health problems, which may have affected how safe they felt."
The chief executive of National Mind, Paul Farmer, commented: "Many people report feeling let down and even more alarming is the fact that many feel unsafe. We urgently need to tackle the climate of fear that still exists on some wards; after all these are environments that should aid not hinder recovery.
"We already know that there is a fundamental problem with communication between staff and inpatients, with the latter feeling ill-informed about their rights and the side effects of treatments. This gulf in communication leaves patients feeling anxious, frightened, isolated and impedes their recovery. Whereas, involving individuals in decisions, listening to what they want and furnishing them with information provides patients with a sense of reassurance and empowerment which can go a long way towards improving their chances of a good recovery. "There is also a worrying disparity between the number of respondents who said they had wanted access to talking therapies and those who actually received them. Therapies such as counselling and psychotherapy can be a very effective and can work well in conjunction with medication so it's disappointing that patients treatment preferences are being ignored."
Source: Mental Health Foundation