Last year Rethink Mental Illness commissioned a report into care for people with Schizophrenia. In it they attack the appalling care for people in hospital, calling it 'catastrophic'. They say that not enough is done to provide calm, safe environments and the wards are mostly secure wards to prevent patients hurting others. Rethink believes and the commissioners from this report, that this is wrong. That most patients don't hurt others and those that do are more driven by drug and alcohol abuse than mental ill health. They say that the standard of care is poor, too focused on medication, too focused on locking people up and patients need more early intervention services and more access to psychological therapies. This is one of the most damning indictments of health services for many years.
I welcome this report, although I have only read a summary. What also stands out for me is that it sits at the very top of the stories on the BBC News website and Paul Jenkins was interviewed on the BBC morning show, talking about schizophrenia. Usually broadcasters and news organisation steer clear of the subject. If you feel up to it, go and find the report, read it and link it up to your Twitter accounts, Facebook etc, and get this report spread as far across the community as you can. Something has to be done about the care we receive. For far too long the NHS has been building lock up wards, while at the same time focusing exclusively on medication. When medication fails patients and become ill they're locked away until the doctors have finished with them. Many patients then leave hospital on huge doses of medication, that patients find hard to come off. This in turn leads to physical health problems. The Schizophrenia Commission recommends more focus on calm environments and alternatives to medication.
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