Isebrook Hospital 2021-01-06 Person 2 5 0

I've always felt that the Reception team are friendly, helpful and compassionate in person and on the phone and many of the staff are too, showing a caring and sympathetic manner towards me. But I feel my care is inconsistent and has often left me feeling unsafe because my needs seem to be unmet due to staff shortages or a lack of funding. Waiting a long time for treatment is hard having being diagnosed 11-12 years ago with a personality disorder by a doctor who did little to provide support at that time. I have experienced long term domestic abuse and been suicidal at times and self harmed too, yet I'm still waiting to begin treatment. I was very grateful to receive a call last year when lockdown began to check on my mental health and go through my support options and the psychiatrists are compassionate and very patient, mostly the duty workers are also responsive and supportive but one of them was very insensitive at a time when I was in crisis and actually made my mental state much worse.

I think communication needs to improve and the service needs to be more consistent. I used to have physical health checks because of the medication I take but they have stopped because of the pandemic and I don't think they are being resumed yet. A month ago, a nurse called from the PCaRT to say she needed to do a safety plan with me and when I was due to call her for our appointment I got a text message saying she was off work that week. I mentioned that I was having palpitations and anxiety and would like to discuss a review of my medication, which she said was urgent because it related to my heart and she would follow up with the team but I haven't heard back from anyone despite sending text messages to her. I don't really know what is happening with my care now, going through a pandemic without feeling properly supported is hard but my faith is strong. God never fails me!