Peter Oates
| Pages | 17-17 |
| Published date | 01 June 1996 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322199600015 |
| Date | 01 June 1996 |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
The Mental Health Review 1:2 © Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 1996 17
USER PERSPECTIVE
and that is something with which I would totally
agree. We have more ‘directors’ than patients on two
wards in my hospital, yet there are only 20 wards in
the hospital with a total of 480 patients. Ward staff
numbers are going down and, as they do, the basics
like exercise and fresh air facilities go amiss.
There are many good things about Broadmoor,
but some sad things as well. For me, it has worked
because I will only be here a short time, compared
to others, some of whom have spent 30 to 40 years
of their lives here. Some have committed serious
crimes, but others have not; in prison-terms alone,
a patient who has done 40 years here would have
completed a sixty-year prison sentence. It is not
because they need high security accommodation,
it is because they now need 24-hour nursing care.
With the large hospitals mostly closed, Broadmoor
will be the only life they will ever see. Regional
secure-units only want patients for months or maybe
two years at the most. There is nothing offering
services for life with 24-hour nursing care. When
prisons are overflowing with inmates who could do
with hospital treatment, the system is fighting itself.
We have around 40 patients who have been told
they could go to less secure environments but who
remain here because of bed shortages in the com-
munity. Some have been waiting for up to two years,
taking up hospital resources and costing around
£60,000 a year. Soon my local health authority will
be asked to pay that money for my keep while I
remain in Broadmoor. Will they pay £60,000 a year
to see me talk to domestics or will they want me to
see doctors and nurses, the real reason why I was
sent here? Getting around the hospital, I know of
around ten other patients who come from the
Lambeth area. Does that mean Lambeth will have
to find £600,000 a year from its budget?
In summary — I want to see more nurses not
managers; more rights that meet the needs of
patients, not glossy brochures telling me everything
but delivering nothing; and I would like a mental
health service that meets the needs of users and
society in an ever-changing world.
Peter Oates
Iwrite as a patient currently held under Section
37/41 of the Mental Health Act. I committed
a crime which was classed as ‘anti-social
behaviour’ and I have had the label of ‘mentally-
disordered offender’ for some time. The label itself
does not worry me; in the three years I have been
in Broadmoor, I have been called an inmate, patient,
client, user, mentally-disordered offender and, prior
to leaving in a few months time, I am sure some
committee will call me something else. I was having
a difficult time in my life and, after committing a
crime, tried to commit suicide. It was clear that I
needed help which I would not receive in the prison
system. There needs to be a balance between what
is good for the patient and what is right for society.
A special hospital like Broadmoor can offer the
treatment, space and time to look at yourself and
see where your life went wrong.
What I find strange, though, about the current
system, is that I am spending less and less time
seeing the people who are employed to look after
and care for me. It seems that nursing assistants,
nurses, ward managers and doctors spend most of
their time writing reports and attending meetings.
At a recent conference held by a special hospital,
it was reported that domestic staff spend more time
with patients than anyone else. I am informed that
I see 40% less of my nursing staff than a few years
ago. I think the system is failing in its prime duty:
the duty to care and treat those people who are
detained by law for care and treatment in secure
accommodation. I know of many patients who have
only spoken to responsible medical officers and
social workers for an hour a year (although when
you read case-notes or a tribunal report, it seems
as if you have spoken to these people an hour a
day for the last 12 months).
The system is not about treatment any more, it
is about funding and whether or not services can be
bought more cheaply elsewhere. Nursing should not
be about cost-cutting exercises by accountants who
know nothing of the system, it should be about
providing a caring service to users. Many people
argue that we are over-staffed in the wrong places
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