Share review of Cygnet Hospital Harrogate

Cygnet Hospital Harrogate 2018-06-15 Person 4 5 0

I was originally an NHS patient for three days in 2015 but I was so drugged that I remember little about it except falling out of bed and collapsing in the corridor after two Nitrazepam and some Diazepam at bed time. I was too ill to go to the dining room and much of my stay was a blur although I do remember trying to escape.I remember being returned to my home town for eight horrific weeks in my local NHS hospital.My next experience as a private patient at Cygnet was wonderful.I spent three weeks in late Nov/Dec 2016 and the nurses, psychiatrists and therapists and of course the food was amazing. I went from being completely suicidal to coming home completely transformed and fat with no suicidal thoughts and really well. I had been surrounded by a lot of care and the other patients were lovely and supportive,the whole family were delighted and my follow up appointments with Dr.Bradbury were really excellent and I was so happy.Then sadly I relapsed and in June 2017 had to return as a private patient as there were no NHS beds and I was poorly again.This time around the Psychiatrists were excellent but sadly the nurses were not as caring. Also there was two violent fights whilst I was there and I didn't feel able to recuperate in a mainly male enviroment.There was a problem with the heat in my room because the radiator in my bathroom was on and couldn't be turned off and it was 30 degrees outside. The pipes feeding the radiator ran under the floorboards near my bed and I was unbearably hot and couldn't cope with the heat in my room.I kept complaining but nobody could understand how much the heat was a problem.I was also kept awake by the nurses constantly chatting through the night and one in particular had such bad hay fever she was constantly disturbing me by her constant sniffing up and down the corridor rattling keys as she went.I had to keep the windows open so the traffic noise also kept me awake and more anxious and I was told there were no fans available.It was suggested my husband went out and bought one but all the shops were shut by that time on the Saturday that he could visit as I lived a good distance away.On the Monday the cleaners came into my room and were astonished by the unbearable heat and immediately contacted maintenance and a fan was provided and the radiator finally turned off but by then I had had at least 5 nights of unbearable anxiety and sleeplessness.I wrote a complaint letter but the response wasn't really satisfactory but I wasn't well enough to fight my corner..I had asked for a room transfer but there were none clean and available and it was deemed that I would be disturbed more in the other locations by the other patients.I ended up convincing the Psychiatrists I was well enough to come home even though I wasn't but I just needed some sleep.I came home but had to be re-admitted.This time the new room was cooler but now I was located near the social area so yet again I had problems sleeping and had panic attacks several mornings.In the end I had to make the decision to come home because instead of getting well I was becoming more anxious and agitated and it was costing too much not to get better.So all in all I was so sad that my second visit as a private patient was a complete disaster compared to the first and I still wish I could complain officially to someone because I felt I wasn't getting better and left because I was worrying about the cost.I had such a tranquil stay the time before I just couldn't believe the difference.