Nightingale Hospital

My son went into The Nightingle Hospital with extreme OCD, to be treated under the care of Professor David Veale and the hospital therapists. His experience from start to finish (one month) was nothing but positive. He was an inpatient and felt safe, careed for, heard and received incredible support and skill to help him get onto the road of recovery. He went from being unable to function with daily chores as a result of his OCD to feeling strong enought to apply for uni next year. He even left with other inpatients becoming life long friends - as this was his first time actually being in the presence, in person. of others with OCD - which in itself was also transformative, as gave him the insight that it is pretty much tackled the same way whatever shape the OCD comes in. I woudl encourage anyone suffering with OCD to seek out support from David Veale - he is incredibly skilled, kind and supportive. Not sure where we'd be without him.

I have no positive feedback for the Nightingale Eating Disorders Unit. I have sat with this thought for six months, begun to move on and repair my life, but these experiences keep me up at night. At the Nightingale EDU, there is a well-established culture of guilt-tripping and an 'all-or-nothing' approach to treating eating disorders. I have had to heal from this experience, and I have had to heal from the person I was during my stay. As an informal patitent, I was assured that I could come and go (i.e., go outside) freely within reason – yet I was threatened with sectioning if I was late back from 15 minute "leave". Mealtimes were patronising, support staff largely condescending in their tone, and mistakes were made regarding my care because I wasn't listened to. I became argumentative, impatient, and more defensive as I was fighting for things like 'fresh air'. I remember on occasion saying I was ‘too tired to be angry’ and felt afraid to express how I was feeling in case the consultant lost hope. On more than one occasion I was told, 'I don't know what my role is here.' There is a strong sense of infantilization, and patients are treated as if they are the illness, not a person with an illness. The experience made me feel powerless, insignificant, and inconvenient. I would not pay for this service myself, and could not in good conscience recommend my consultant or the Nightingale Hospital to anyone in a similar situation. Serious changes need to happen.

Underwhelming. For what is supposed to be one of the top private psychiatric hospitals in the UK, as an outpatient using their psychiatric services, I found the Nightingale Hospital to be underwhelming, the service slow and below expected standards, and the Patient Liaison Team unhelpful.

The arrogance of private care here was just at another level....

I have had three stays in this hospital and on each occasion could not fault it. My consultants have been brilliant, the nursing team (Anele is a treasure) caring, patient and attentive, an impressive cleaning staff and wonderful food. Thank you Nightingale for each time being there at extreme crisis

The psychiatrist I saw really was not great. Have given a review of Dr Sean Cross. Have switched providers to another doctor and another clinic - very happy now.

Nightingale Hospital is a great place when recovering from an eating disorder and other mental illnesses. The nurses are really caring and helpful. Patients are treated really well, everyone is being listened to, the facilities are great. I could not recommend this hospital enough. It is truly a great place to be when recovering.

I would like to thank all the staff at the nightingale, from walking in to leaving, made me feel so comfortable. Thank you to all

The hospital is supposedly one of the best. Yet one of the top eating disorder therapists was woefully unprofessional. She was constantly late to appointments, unprofessional, rude and dismissive. Additionally, she blamed me for these issues, rather than taking responsibility for her actions. Finally, she wore a fitness tracker, which is incredibly insensitive to a patient with a history of anorexia.

I am sure some people really benefit from being in this hospital - there certainly seemed to be some happy patients there during my stay. However, if you do not fit the mould of their 'treatment plans' (for example, perhaps do not wish to attend group therapy every day, multiple times a day), you are tagged as 'trouble'. Very much a one size fits all approach, and if you have the appropriate 'size' then it is great. Everyone else, not so much.