NHS mental health care in crisis: 'There is no hope for people like me'

[Northerner]

Battles for diagnosis, lengthy waits for treatment, an over-reliance on drugs, and, frequently, an abject lack of compassion: this is the picture that people with mental health problems, their families and professionals paint of NHS mental health care. After the revelation that two-thirds of people with depression in the UK receive no treatment on the NHS, more than 600 people have answered a Guardian request for their stories – and they describe a system that is profoundly broken.

The incoming president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Prof Sir Simon Wessely, recently suggested people would be "absolutely appalled and screaming from the rooftops" if those going without treatment had cancer rather than mental health problems. Paul*, from Essex, a father of two daughters, has experienced those starkly differing standards. His eldest daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 and had "exemplary treatment" on the NHS; she is now back at work and planning to get married.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/08/nhs-mental-health-care-readers-stories

 

[Andy HB]

This isn't always the case.

For the most part, my father received good care and compassionate treatment in North Wales.

 

[Northerner]

This isn't always the case.

For the most part, my father received good care and compassionate treatment in North Wales.

I think that's the problem isn't it Andy? Good care can be given, but it often depends on the luck of the draw. Although, in my book there is never any excuse for poor care