While in hospital

hello@BlueBay

There is no excuse for rudeness in the health system anywhere.

They have a duty of care.

well done for lodging a complaint.

Have you kept a copy of your letter and date it was sent? Who the envelope was addressed to?

Is this a public system or private system? Was there actually a complaint form available to you with processes on how to lodge?

sorry to throw all these questions at you. In situations like these it is always good to keep as much evidence as possible.

make a note of the dates the doctor was rude to you, just right as much as you remember for your own back up.

Have you got a friend, family member or advocate through mental health area supporting you through this. Would be good for someone to follow this up for you as you are recovering from a hospital stay.

I would follow up with an email to sane or a phone call, again with someone else helping you, doing it for you whilst you are there. They should be able to point you in the direction of an advocate or best way moving forward.

just want to make sure that your letter is taken seriously and action taken.

once you have done all that you feel that you can and have been assisted along the way.

put it all away in a safe place and tell yourself that nothing is going to be done this side of the christmas break so tell yourself that you do not need to think about it.

most important thing at moment is you - so be kind to you.

trust me I know how hard it is to do that, i am practising.

hope you are relaxing and continue to do so over the silly season. take care xx

@BlueBay

The last few weeks have been chaos and now you have been turfed out into the snow

I agree with @utopia- yes - you do need to be more assertive - maybe we should right up our Assertive Bill of Rights - but alas - it is not a good way to treat yourself to tell the person you are paying to help you that you don't care - you do care and frankly - you need better treatment than you are getting

This business of the hospital closing for Christmas is crap!! I am angry for you and the other patients - this is the worst time of year for that. I had better not say too much because I am fuming. FUMING

Do your best to take it easy over Christmas. Cleaning your house seems to be good therapy for you - next time huffnpuff starts with his OCD tell him about the dirty floor and the messy kitchen and the horrible en-suit - this is what you do

Actually back in the days I could not do housework when I was in a bad place - everything seemed to close down and I was rather house-proud back then -

And it doesn't seem as if your visit to hospital was pleasant at all - at least one should have time to rest there - esp after the realisation of your mother etc

Still - we will be here - my family came up and collected the presents for the kids and the Christmas Dinner tomorrow night - and also I had gingerbread Christmas Trees and short bread stars. My gd is moving into her own flat after Christmas - and I am buying her a fridge - that's what she needs most

Yes - my family is growing up fast too and I seem to have got Christmas under control better this year than ever before

All the best Blue and I know this is hard - you are not at all well

Lots of hugs

Dec

Hi @Former-Member

That letter has been dealt with straight away. I can't remember now if i did write in here what the outcome was. I received a letter a few days later stating they would investigate my complaint. Then a few days after that I received a phone call from the Director of ED at that particular hospital. She told me that she has spoken to that particular young doctor and told him this is not to be tolerated. She assured me that i will not have this done to me again. I said to her that i will request to not see this partiuclar doctor if i do go to this ED. She assured me it wouldn't happen again but i am still not sure. At least in my mind i have made a complaint, at least they know and how i felt.

This anger i have at the moment is from another hospital (private mental health unit) which are closing down over the Christmas beak. i want to write to someone at the hospital but am scared that the staff at the mental unit will find out it was me; but then again the nurses wanted to work and were ready to work; it was that there were no psychs available. But apparently i heard through another patient that her psych was angry about the closure and that he was happy to see patients.

i just don't get.

Hi @Decadian

Today i feel so alone and lost. I feel rejected by the hospital and so damn angry. I took jersey for a walk along the beach and then i stopped for a coffee.

I am seeing my new psychologist at 1pm so i will tell her how angry i am, but am a bit scared because she works in the same clinic as my psych and i am worried that if i say something about him she will tell him. but i will ask her this question and make sure it is all confidential. i guess i still don't trust her as i have only seen her once. but i will let her know of my fears.

You're right @Decadian i am still not well. maybe i will be okay by next wednesday to go to work, i don't know. i will see how i feel by next week. i am so glad that i didn't decide to go back today, what the hell was i thinking last week!!!

anyway better go, i will let you know how my sessions goes later.

take care my friend xxxx

@utopia@Decadian

Do you know what i just did? - I called the hospital and voiced my complaint and anger at the dept closing down over xmas. I had a nice lady on the other end, she is in charge of the hospital and she said it was no intention to close but the reluctantly had no choice because there were no doctors. The never wanted to close. So i told her could she pls not tell the staff in the unit that i called and she said she wouldn't. she appreciated how dificult the call must have been but i told her how angry i was that a mental health unit could close over xmas when it is such a trigger for a lot of patients.

she appreciated my call and will take it into account and will speak to the doctors for this time next year thta it doesn't happen again. she is also working more into how long the patients have to wait to get a bed.

i am glad i got to tell her how i felt. in between crying.

so now off to my psychologist, and i will vent my anger to her as well.

Oh wow! @BlueBay

This is fantastic - it is empowering to let people know when they let people down - then you may learn that - in this case the hospital has to close down because doctors take time off over the holidays

It makes me mad - people can take holidays but our condition never does - my doctor is going away but he has been there consistently all year - and there is another doctor who will see me after the holidays. Not every doctor will see me because I take Section 8 medication - so if I need it over the Christmas break at least I can see the locum service -

You have reminded me to ring my agency to see if they are providing me with a driver next week to take me shopping - I haven't heard anything about the programme over the holidays - yes - the regular workers all have time off and they usually give me someone from another agency

Because of my damaged spine and shoulders I can't change the sheet and doona cover on my queen sized bed - push a super-market trolley - wash the floor or vacuum - it's out of the question. Sometimes I will do something I know I should not because there is no one else to do it but I pay in physical pain

It's different - there is no comparison with what you are going through but the base of the issue is that people want to take time off for the holidays and it's not on for everyone -

I am getting steamed up - I have to stop -

But I am so glad you rang the hospital

Dec

Yes - all the best with your psychologist today @BlueBay

Dec

Oh wow , Well done @BlueBay

all the best with your psychologist this afternoon xx

sending you hugs my friend