Elizabeth spent the day at the hairdressers yesterday and looks much nicer now.  They had to spend a good part of the day stripping the horrible reddish mauvish colour out of her naturally blond hair. She now look much better  and also due to being outside in the garden she is starting to gain colour in her face too and has stopped smoking as she had recommenced at the care home where everyone goes outside in the garden to smoke.  Considering Elizabeth was deprived of the drug Clozapine for 3 days and then did not receive it until late on the fourth day I am amazed at her progress but a good explanation is that she is treatment resistant so this drug did not do anything for her anyway and in my opinion is a waste.  It is an expensive chemical to give and involves staff coming to the house twice a day.  They then do their report to social services and the kind of questions they are  “did you sleep well – did you have any nightmares and how are you feeling.  I made sure I passed a letter on which I want given to the consultant psychiatrist – another one as God knows what has happened to the last one.  Some of the nurses were scared of my lovely cat.  Maybe the consultant psychiatrist is afraid of this too.  Maybe that is why he has been changed to someone else.   Anyway I made it clear that now is not the time to do an assessment –  come on –  this is ridiculous when someone has been deprived of the chemicals for over three days it is never ever going to be a fair assessment.  I know this as a mother.  Anyway all their questioning is irritating for Elizabeth right now and why should she have to put up with this –  at the end of the day she has made it clear to so many people, neighbours, family etc she wants to be at home.  I am happy to have her at home and money is saved in this way to the taxpayer. 

Whilst I am at work this week I have made special arrangements. Elizabeth is becoming more confident since being at home – she has settled down and seems a lot happier. There were problems in the first instance but this was when Elizabeth took herself off 30mg of Cipralex in one go and another with the Aripraprazole. In all cases she was having the most serious side effects which were ignored and of course she suffered psychosis but then anyone would have in the circumstances. Now however things are different, despite being denied an assessment by local social services and without the drug Clozapine for over 3 days she has suffered no psychosis. Elizabeth is older now and has been on a cocktail of drugs leading up to this last resort drug. Not one of them work – she is only on 25mg atm but in the morning feels a bit rough. All the time the nursing staff are questioning Elizabeth and reporting back every word to social services to a department run by someone who is behind previous attempts to displace me with the excuse being that I would stop the drugs or encourage her to stop taking the drugs. I admit I do not like the drugs which have made Elizabeth decline physically but she has proved lately she can manage on a lot less and at the care home owned by Northampton Social Services a member of staff was coercing Elizabeth to the point she was so upset she did not want to return.

They want to do an immediate assessment. They wanted me out of the room so that they could do this in a weakened state without being on the drugs for over 3 days. Now I heard they are taking me to court. I have lodged a complaint about the Manager of this department and the social worker has been highly criticised in previous legal documents. Together this team is the same as has always been and when Elizabeth and I arrived at the hospital there were staff that appeared to be highly amused and smiling – it would seem none of the staff could care less about medical ethics or human rights. To deprive medication is in breach of Art 3 of the Human Rights Act. I cannot blame Elizabeth for not wanting to go back to a care home where staff were asking her to choose between Mum and Dad. I cannot blame her for not wanting to go back to a place miles away from family where they were drugging her to the hilt. £200 woth of possessions have gone missing and Cambian forwarded me the receipt stating they sent everything on to this care home where the consultant psychiatrist not once returned calls. This same team of “professionals” are behind each and every attempt to displace me and this is because they dislike me. They dislike me as I have complained about the many serious incidents that have happened under Enfield Mental Health which they tried to cover up. I took things through all the complaints procedures and whilst the result was “satisfactory” care by the Healthcare Commission how on earth can it be when two firms of solicitors cited this to be negligence however I was told she would not get legal aid.

Yesterday we went out for lunch and I went shopping to buy Elizabeth nutritious food. Elizabeth has also had her hair done and looks so much better and the hairdressers are picking her up to re-style her hair in accordance with her wishes. She has a key, I am going to give her money each day and friends – various friends are coming round to keep her company and take her out places etc. I am so grateful to them.

I am hoping since Elizabeth is doing so well she could be on a lower dosage of the drug Clozapine – she is bound to have some side effects having been deprived of the drug because social services did not turn up to do the assessment and the pharmacist the day before had to consult with the Manager of this department and told me a psychiatrist was not available or he could not get hold of one. That meant Elizabeth and I had to go and sit and wait for ages in the MH unit where eventually a psychiatrist and three other people turned up and he flatly refused to give the drug without an assessment. It was only when I said I would cite them individually that the social worker who has been highly criticised before finally offered to do an assessment. There are three main people within that department who are in breach of the human rights Act and it is not the first time that department have been behind breach of human rights. Anyway I have complaint about these three to just about everyone I could complain to within the Council and higher up.

They have no grounds to say Elizabeth is not safe, being cared for, in danger and I have enough witnesses to refute anything being said to the contrary and as to what her wishes are because there are lots of people involved apart from myself who are helping and I have a lot of support thanks to everyone.

An assessment of someone’s capacity should not be done until that person has adjusted having been deprived of the drugs and the Manager for which no doubt they will try and blame me.

I would say that I have never been bullied to such an extent in my life by a department who funded by the taxpayer should be working with the family and have failed to do so. However now there is no need for them to be involved at all hence a saving to the public. Elizabeth is recovering greatly since being home. It is therapeutic having her cat there and surrounded by family. She can lay in the garden and rest and there are people who care around her and she is protected. She is not pulled in two directions between mother and father like this care home were doing. How can this be beneficial in her getting well when she is told “who do you want mother or father as next of kin” – these words were repeated to me and Elizabeth said “its not fair Mum – I don’t want to go back as they are trying to get me to choose between you and my Dad”. This is why I did not return her as I had also been told “we are not speaking to you – we are only dealing with Mr B. You are no longer the next of kin.” Very nasty and with all the drugging they were doing which Elizabeth admitted had increased it is easy to brainwash and get someone to say whatever they like at a given moment but nothing is accurate and considering the past record where contact has been denied etc Court Action attempted at public expense more than once – now yet again more public funding wasted – what a mess when they should be concentrating on cases where there is risk/danger to that person and not on my daughter Elizabeth who is happy to be at home and has told neighbours, friends and the whole family of this who were not too happy when they saw the drugs chart of this home.

We have to wait in every day twice a day whilst the Home Treatment Team come and visit putting Elizabeth back on the drugs again. I have requested that Elizabeth is on 100mg only and have been told this is the therapeutic dose. I was horrified at the long list of drugs given at the care home and when Elizabeth said she didn’t want to go back I listened. It is a pity the team do not listen half the time. Just to reassure you all Elizabeth is fine and I don’t mind anyone checking on this. It is not really necessary because the Home Treatment Team are doing this and reporting everything back to social services.
I have passed on to them a letter and the letter reads:

Dear Dr A (BUT NOW THERE IS A NEW CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST SO I FOUND OUT TODAY – A DOCTOR M)

When you are raising the drug Clozapine please bear in mind that the therapeutic dose is 100mg and my daughter was on far too much of this chemical. It is not wonder she had to sleep in the afternoon and go to bed early. She is 27 and has no life and I want this reduced to 100mg.

Then after this I have heard that Risperidon is a better drug and a 5 -HT receptor and I am currently writing to my solicitors in this respect.

It will be a saving of money to the NHS not to put her on a huge dosage of Clozapine and gradually titrate down to the Risperidon. I shall be happy as a mother if you do this as my daughter is treatment resistant and I am waiting for an appointment to see Professor Pirmohammed. These drugs you should be checking on metabolism and treatment resistant = poor or bad metabolism so there is no point in you putting her on such a high dosage. She has managed fine without any drugs for the past 3 days and I know you cannot just come off them but the lower dose the better and it is not recommended for PTSD and I have checked the NICE Guidelines for this – that is the new diagnosis and she should have intensive Trauma Therapy and be referred to Prof Roderick Orner in this respect. Please can you make a referral so that she can have the correct treatment for the new diagnosis.

You do not agree with the Risperidon but I do not agree with you because I am told this is a far better drug and you are wasting NHS money. I wish something to be done about this.

Kind regards

SUSAN BEVIS

After Home Treatment Team arrived Elizabeth and I went to Makros and got some lovely garden chairs and she can now sit outside in the fresh air.

We had lunch out and then Elizabeth and I went to Sainsburys and bought some shopping and then I did some cooking for tomorrow..

On the way to Sainsburys Elizabeth chatted to my new next door neighbour and I proudly introduced Elizabeth to him and Elizabeth j ust came out and said “I want to be at home” – Elizabeth is here with me now and says “its not fair Mum”. Nothing is fair in this country and that is why I am writing my blog so that everyone can learn about what is unfair – the kind of thing you do see in the press – HONESTY.

In no time it was time for the Home Treatment Team to turn up again and give yet another account to the social services who are now taking me to court. Is this going to be a secret court? Well I am making it unsecret by telling everyone what they are about to do as I believe in openness and honesty and would like to see OPEN DIALOGUE. All I want is a lower dosage of the drugs and they even got involved in pushing drugs themselves and now they are involved in determining whether someone can be delayed their drugs. Everyone was smiling at me at the hospital. They were either amused at me or else perhaps they thought “she deserves what she has coming”. Only God can decide this but I want everyone to know that I am very happy right now, Elizabeth is content and so is her cat.

Susan

Some more legal information for you. Please pass this on to anyone in your group who believe their relatives are being given experimental treatment on wards.

Denying your daughter access to medication on the grounds that she is at home and not in the care home is a violation of her human rights. Article 3 is an absolute right and allows no derogation. Various interpretations of Article 3 exist, however, depending on the definition of inhuman or degrading treatment. Doctors have a duty to draw attention to cases of inhuman or degrading treatment. For example, one may be obliged to inform the appropriate authorities if one felt a patient had received grossly inadequate medical or nursing attention on a hospital ward, or if the delay of an operation for logistical reasons had caused a patient undue pain or distress. Patient advocacy is particularly relevant for vulnerable groups, including children, the elderly, the mentally handicapped and the poor, who may be unaware that their rights have been violated, or are unable to seek remedy for their complaints.

Treating PTSD as refractive schizophrenia is perhaps the greatest error in modern psychiatry and cause untold suffering and waste of resources. Giving patient huge doses of Clozapine or other atypicals when low doses of Risperidone can control the symptoms is absurd and a terrible indictment of psychiatric ideology. Many patients currently dose to the maximum could benefit from a low dosage if the shrinks would simply think beyond the DSM and their rigid and irrational ideology.

Risperidone is a better drug than Clozapine its is active at far lower doses and is not associated with Agranularcytosis. It acts on the same neurotransmitter as Clozapine and i am convinced that this action is so different that the normal diagnoses of schizophrenia are wrong. Almost all other drugs act on the dopamine D2 receptor and cause extrapyramidal side effects such as ataxia and akasthenia. It would not be a major job reducing the Clozapine and introducing Risperidone. I have just seen this done at the local hospital and it worked perfectly well. The human rights law in Tanko v Finland states that if a patient is to be prescribed anti-psychotic medication they are entitled to the best.

Social services cannot override your daughter’s wishes if she is not sectioned and if she wants to stay at home she has every legal right to do so. It is not true that only psychiatrist can prescribe Clozapine. There are restrictions in that it must be dispensed via a Clozapine clinic but there are plenty of these and some GP’s are registered. Lying to patients and their nearest relatives is a serious breach of professional ethics and they must act at all times in your daughters best interests, that includes listening to what she wants rather than deciding that themselves. Failing to prescribe PRN medication is also a serious breach of medical ethics and threatens the well being of the patient. If they are hoping that your daughter becomes psychotic in order to justify reinstating the section that again is an appalling breach of ethics.

THAT CLOZAPINE CLINIC IS CHACE FARM ENFIELD AND HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY LLOYDS PHARMACY IN GREEN STREET

SOCIAL SERVICES IS SOCIAL SERVICES ENFIELD. I HAVE CONTACTED NEARLY ALL OF THE COUNCILLORS AND NOW I AM GOING BACK TO THE HOSPITAL WITH MY DAUGHTER WHO IS STILL OK. THEY ARE IN BREACH OF MEDICAL ETHICS AND I WISH TO NAME ALL OF THOSE CONCERNED PERSONALLY. NOONE SHOULD DENY A VULNERABLE PERSON THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS LIKE THIS AND TAKE SOMEONE AWAY AND PLACE THEM IN A CARE HOME OWNED BY BY SOCIAL SERVICES NORTHAMPTON AND TRY AND GET MY DAUGHTER SECTIONED AGAIN SO THAT THEY CAN STEP IN AND REPLACE ME AS NEAREST RELATIVE OR M AKE HER A WARD OF COURT I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW HOW I AM BEING BULLIED BECAUSE THIS SOCIAL SERVICES OFFICE HAVE BEEN WARNED ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS BEFORE. THEY HAVE TRIED SEVERAL TIMES TO GET RID OF ME AND SPENT A FORTUNE ON PRIVATE CARE FOR NEARLY 3 YEARS IN WALES.

I have just been on the phone to Novartis I spoke to the emergency telephone number, office of which is based in Frimley Camberley. I said I would be prepared to drive down tonight and collect the drugs needed for Elizabeth. I offered to pay for the drugs and offered to pay for a courier if necessary. I explained the situation to the pharmacist and said she had been refused by a young consultant psychiatrist because he said it was 48 hrs and it was not. I gave her the name of the new GP and she gave me the name of a new GP based in Northampton and that was a different name to the doctor I saw with Elizabeth when we came down who I was told was the GP. The GP surgery is called Kingsthorpe. Now Elizabeth has got a new GP who was very nice and efficient and produced a prescription for a week’s emergency supply of the drug. As you can see below this is allowed in an emergency which it is. So I asked now what would be the position with this drug which is essential and should have been provided in the circumstances when the care home refused to release it to Elizabeth (surely anyone could see this is an emergency). Well the pharmacist told me the drug had to be titrated up and that meant being put on a low dose. Well perhaps that is good because I was told that 350mg is a higher than necessary dose when the therapeutic dose of Clozapine is 100mg only. Perhaps that is a good thing. She knew quite a bit about the records of Elizabeth’s prescription and knew that Boots the Chemist were responsible for dispensing this drug but that Boots is not in the local area however again I would be prepared to drive down there and get that prescription. I said surely the Boots could have faxed the local Boots and sent over the prescription in order that I could have collected the drugs – well apparently I was told it does not work like this. So now Elizabeth has been deprived of this drug by the local hospital who flatly refused to help and social services who insisted on her going back to the care home when she wants to be at home refused to release the drugs if I called to collect them in person. They insisted on her going back. I asked who was in charge at Novartis and the person is Susan Price – I am looking forward to speaking to Susan Price tomorrow to see how we can resolve this situation as I have gone to the providers who have an emergency number and can supply the drug and would have greater knowledge than the psychiatrist as they would know exactly how the drug works. I wonder how I get on tomorrow and I will let you all know about this.

I am a very patient person and none of this is affecting me as I am resilient to stress and what is more surprisingly Elizabeth is extremely calm – she was a bit stressed at the pharmacy and that is not surprising as so were lots of other people who were waiting for a long time and complaining. So I could go down tonight to the other hospital but instead I will take Elizabeth there tomorrow – I was told this is the place to go as the local hospital is not a prescribing hospital any more but Elizabeth was hungry and she is very happy to be at home and not in the slightest bit stressed out.

Many of the staff had smiles on their faces in the hospital and when I questioned I did not get an answer. I complained at the wait as I have a cat to feed and needed to get back but it would seem like the consultant psychiatrist had to get together a group of other people no doubt to back him up to the hilt.

I had already spoken to the Director of Mental Health personally in order to get a psychiatrist over only to be told after the Director had left that he could not help me because it was over 48 hrs and it was not. Now it is over 48 hrs and Elizabeth will be taken to the hospital with me tomorrow in another bid to obtain the drugs and the head person of Novartis will be ringing me tomorrow and I will in addition be contacting my MP and my daughter her solicitor and my solicitors. It is wrong to deprive a patient of a necessary drug and in bold below are some details from Novartis on procedures. It is wrong to force someone back to a care home when they do not want to go and want to stay at home.

In addition I have been to the local carers centre and they were very nice and helpful. Elizabeth spoke and said she wanted to be home and also it is cheaper for her to be home than in a care home especially when it is featured in the local paper how much it costs to put someone in a B&B because the wards were overflowing and I recognised nearly all the patients there – still under the MH wards.

The answer is a National Metabolising Programme as if this care is not working and the drugs prescribed are ineffective then tests need to be done before prescribing them in the first place. As my daughter is treatment resistant I am very much in favour of this and see this as being a way to save money for the NHS as treatment resistant = poor or non metaboliser and therefore money is being wasted on drugs that do not work in any case. When someone needs a life saving drug for physical health they are often denied this and yet 14 drugs that do not work have been pushed on to my daughter Elizabeth and I see this as a waste of money.

Here are some of the instructions for Clozapine.

Last of all many decent professionals want to see change in the care system and I appreciate that they are up against a lot of power – I would describe my experience as UP AGAINST A BRICK WALL. However far from being discouraged I am feeling stronger than ever as I want a better care system for everyone in the mental health and I am highlighting in a very honest way what is wrong. PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING. There are good staff, not everyone is bad and they have to put up with a lot however much money is being wasted and I as a mother want my daughter home plus she wants to be home and has said this in front of others without being put under pressure by me.

Yes, a prescriber may write a prescription which includes refills. The pharmacist must receive the current (drawn within 7 days irrespective of monitoring frequency) blood work prior to dispensing Clozaril, for each refill.
3.What happens if a patient is going on vacation or is unable to obtain blood work during an emergency?

A one-week supply of Clozaril may be dispensed without a blood work in the event of an emergency/vacation, known as an emergency/vacation supply. Upon initiation of therapy, up to a one-week supply of additional Clozaril tablets may be provided to the patient to be held for emergencies (e.g. weather, holidays). Clozaril prescribing information (2005).

Two common circumstances that may require an emergency supply of drug include:

– the patient is unable to get to the laboratory for their normally scheduled blood draw.

– vacations or holidays interfere with their normal routine.

The patient must be eligible for weekly, biweekly or monthly blood draws and their white blood counts and absolute neutrophil counts should be stable, relative to the patient’s normal values. It is possible that a patient entitled to a one week supply of medication to receive a 2-week supply which would include their vacation/emergency supply of the drug. A patient entitled to a 2-week supply could receive a total of a 3-week supply which would include their vacation/emergency supply of the drug.

Elizabeth told me she was upset by a member of staff and was not happy at the care home. I was told “we are not speaking to you any more only Mr Bevis”. I have been complaining about the overprescribing of drugs. The essential drugs of Clozapine Bisoprolol and Senna have all been denied to my daughter despite a prescription from her GP. I got the feeling that everyone was smiling there at the hospital – in fact I questioned why. I saw the same old faces back on the wards and Elizabeth now has the chance to come home and she is stable. However if denied these drugs likes she is being denied them then she could become ill and this is wrong that a team should all gang up and behind all of this is the social services and I have received no end of bullying from them. The Manager most of the staff have been around for years. Same old team who stick together and I have had good cause to complain, most of the things are too shocking to put on my blog and I thought there would be better care away from this area but have been proven wrong. If the care is funded locally then there is great interest from social services and they have great control. Social Services have also been involved in trying to push Clozapine at my daughter. They are not doctors and an experienced consultant psychiatrist wrote a report to say she has a different diagnosis all of which has been ignored by social services and the team. They are not medical experts and know nothing whatsoever about the drugs concerned. It is bullying when they exclude you. I have legal papers to point to the fact they tried on more than one occasion to take me to court. They accuse me of encouraging her to stop taking the drugs and that is a complete lie. The drugs are given for a so called diagnosis of paranoid Schizophrenia treatment resistant. There is no bio marker for Schizophrenia – there is no such thing as treatment resistant as this means poor or non metaboliser. There are no test to determine whether someone can metabolize the drugs or not so a patient may never ever get better because they are prescribed drugs that are not doing them any good. I have stood up to them as they were giving Metformine 500mg a day on top of Clozapine which is contra indicated and the GP took her off immediately – now Elizabeth has told me she is on far more drugs than she has ever been on before since coming to the care home and that is one reason I don’t want her to go back there and the fact I know that social services are trying to influence her about her father being the nearest relative however she is free – she is not on a CTO or section and should not be forced to go back when that is what they obviously intend to do because neither myself or her father are nearest relatives whilst she is not on a section. I do not want my daughter sectioned again and I thoroughly support her in her wish to come home. I want everyone to know her solicitor called mine a Dick Head. I want everyone to know we were excluded for the most part from the Tribunal and I did not have the support of the independent doctor there and have a wonderful report which is every bit true and recommends intensive trauma therapy and NOT CLOZAPINE. However I am well aware you cannot just come off these drugs. I am well aware of this and would not stop them myself. Now I am up against a brick wall. I know that the Manager of social services has been contacted. I know the pharmacist has been on to that department. I was originally happy as my daughter was happy with the care home but now I want a full investigation. £200 worth of possessions have gone missing between Cambian and the care home. I have contacted the CQC who can only look at records so they tell me and are not interested in individual cases. This is absolute bullying when no one is cooperating and especially as far as duty of care is concerned I am more than happy to name the hospital and the entire social services team in line with proof of paperwork unless I get these drugs which are much needed tomorrow. Elizabeth is content and happy at home and has her pet cat. Not once has she needed the extra drugs given lunch time. The nurse has also been saying that she looked stressed when she came back to them and that is why the extra drugs were being prescribed.

This is not a nice situation but it is important that is drawn to the attention of everyone and every politician so that things can be improved and especially when someone’s life is at stake and no one could care less. They are deliberately withholding the drugs and it has not been 48 hrs like the young psychiatrist – I have his name and everyone else suggested and I have witnesses – I would like matters to go to court. My daughter’s solicitor has already confirmed that discussions were in hand and the discussions were not on the lines of physical health concerns but if they were questioning displacement of me as the nearest relative and she is not sectioned right now then it is obvious to me that they could end up sectioning her again in order to control. If someone is not on a Section or CTO then they should not be bullied into going back where they could end up being coerced by members of staff when they h ave expressed a desire to come home. Neither should someone be deprived of seeing a report by a prominent psychiatrist of many years experience and denied the chance of new treatment in line with new diagnosis and I have looked up NICE Guidelines to check on this.

AT THE END OF THE DAY THEY HAVE A DUTY OF CARE AND THEY ARE FAILING AS I HAVE A PRESCRIPTION FOR A WEEKS SUPPLY OF THIS DRUG CLOZAPINE AND HAVE HAD THE BLOOD TESTS DONE WILLINGLY AND REGISTERED AND THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN REFUSDED BY A VERY YOUNG CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST.

This kind of bullying with someone’s life and human rights at risk should not go on in a civilised country and now I am going to post this to every politician to deal with as the complaints procedures are failing so many as is the care.

I have spent the entire day trying to sort out about my daughter’s medication one of which is Clozapine and then there is the heart medication and the constipation medication  – she has plenty of the extras such as Lorazepam and paracetamol but has been very relaxed since coming home.  What is so disturbing is that I have got nowhere despite all the out of hours emergency contact numbers and so called out of hours services. 

The Out of Hours service is run by NHS England (111) and they have put me through to 3 GPs, none of whom could help me.  They all referred me back to the care home whose manager refuses to give the drug despite having a supply in case he gets into trouble.  They I approached out of hours social services who say there is nothing whatsoever they can do and advised me to contact the Crisis Team which I did.  When I got nowhere with them I was advised to go down to the local hospital and I went to two and both refused to give a small supply of the drugs.  It is despairing when services such as these let you down when you have a vulnerable person who does not want to go back there where she has been confronted by a member of staff yet again and Questioned as to whether she would prefer her father to be the nearest relative.  My daughter feels under pressure and feels upset as social services who are behind all of this want to get rid of me.  I am not imagining things because I have done my best and all along I have listened and respected my daughter’s wishes.  I have been portrayed as a bad mother when in fact I am most concerned when I saw the drugs sheet and there is suddenly much more drugs being prescribed and was told this was given at Cambian but Elizabeth has told me that she has been told that the extra lunch time drugs are  necessary because last time she came back from her stay with me she looked stressed or words to this effect.    So I now do not have a supply of the Clozapine for the evening and early morning and no one cares.  I was prepared to drive 5 hours to collect this from the care home but the manager is afraid he will be in trouble if he releases this and the deputy manager also refuses  and this is the person my daughter has referred to as putting pressure on her.   My daughter is free – as free as she can be – she has a lifetime of drugging ahead as it stands and has been put on last resort Clozapine against her wishes by the Bethlem. The team are ignoring and dismissing a report by a very highly qualified psychiatrist of many years experience. and I do not like this at all.    I have managed to overturn a section 3 and she was sent to the Bethlem Royal Hospital – she was having a bad reaction to the drugs Quetiapine and Olanzapine which they mixed together and this causes adverse reactions and no wonder it is called the Nat Psychosis Unit – right now they are offering £40 to vulnerable patients and promote Clozapine as the favoured drug and they will go to any lengths to get a patient on it including bribery.  Then she was sent to Cambian in Wales where she was discouraged contact with me and I am the nearest relative.  Prior to this I had a day of harassment whilst at work and they were taking me to court accusing me of not giving the drugs – I have all the papers to prove it.   Then a group of Patients named SOAP who have mostly been cruelly treated (we lost a wonderful member not long ago called Jean Cozens} who took her life from being forced into taking drugs by injection to the point she could no longer enjoy life.  The group got behind me and staged a demonstration and my daughter was moved miles away.  The consultant psychiatrist did not like me and members of the team tried their best to distance me from my daughter and recommended a firm of solicitors to her to replace her existing ones and that solicitor did not come near my daughter and whilst she has capacity sometimes when these drugs are given it weakens a patient to the point where they feel they have no choice but to go along with a team.  All the time I was allocated 1 hrs phone contact supervised only my daughter was texting me but if I spoke to her on the phone she actually said she could not speak and I said why not – is anyone behind this and are they trying to sever contact with me and you and she said “yes”  – she said she could not say whom and my younger daughter confirmed who it was.  So I managed to overturn a Section 3 as the nearest relative as my daughter is of no risk to the public and no risk to herself.  My daughter’s first wish was to come home and the above is her words.  Provided she is taking the drugs – I know she cannot come off and I am not qualified.  I am just a mother.  I have been accused by social services of all these things and have the files to prove it.  

Elizabeth has told her Dad she does not want to go back because of the pressure she is under by a member of nursing staff.  I had previously written a glowing report for this care home and thought although it was not my choice and although Elizabeth was not given a choice and disallowed the chance to stay at any other placement to see if she liked it –  she did like the care home and I respected that.  What I object to is them giving all the extra drugs – the psychiatrist has not once phoned me to speak to me despite my requests and my concerns.  The GP also has not phoned me and I have been to see her – I have been helpful in supplying information as regards past medical history that they did not have.  I have been concerned Elizabeth had diabetes prior to this but the GP went out of his way to be helpful to me and confirmed that he could see no reason why she was on the drug Metformine which is contra indicated.  As far as I know the private hospital were only giving Metformine and Clozapine.  Now she is on heart medication. drugs for constipation, drugs for anxiety which incidentally she has not needed to take once since coming home.  Lorazepam is highly addictive too and should not be given and the Clozapine is too high I have found out it should be 100mg.    She has been calm and happy since coming home and has her cat here.  I thought the care would be better away from this area as it is London but unfortunately it has not been and I have seen even worse – the care has been more like prison –  prison is better than what my daughter has had being forced to take drugs, being deprived of contact with the family or discouraged and now I cannot believe it the care home are involved in doing the same and all the time social services are behind it in yet another attempt possibly to get rid of me. 

Her father phoned today and was very upset at first with me demanding I take her back but when Elizabeth said she did not want to go back and told him what was going on he understood the position. 

So I have spent an entire day getting nowhere and in the whole of London you cannot get this drug anywhere.  In desperation I contacted a wonderful organisation called the COUNCIL FOR EVIDENCE BASED PSYCHIATRY –  under this organisation are good psychiatrists and I just want my daughter to have a good psychiatrist like the one I appointed for the Tribunal who wrote a wonderful honest report and I respect someone like this because this report was wholly accurate and I have since turned to universities – whose advice you can trust as it is up to date.

I have also spent £1000 this weekend on looking at my daughter’s physical health that nobody seems to care about.

Now social services are going to accuse me once again of being an unfit mother and causing my daughter to go without drugs but I have been to two hospitals, I have spoken to three different out of hours doctors through NHS England and I have spoken so many times to out of hours social services.   None of these emergency services could help me and now I have turned to the CEP.  I am thinking about putting out an appeal as to how I can at least get the Clozapine for 1 day – she has not got a supply in the evening and I have the quantities of what she is taking exactly and was told to take this to the hospital and both hospitals refused.  This is London and I have a car and can drive — where in London can I get the drug that has been refused.   If my daughter feels uncomfortable about going back to the care home because a member of staff has put pressure on her then the way I look at it is why should she.  She has rights – she is not sectioned and never should have been – she is not a danger to herself and others and it is wrong of professional staff to say to my daughter that she needs the extra drugs because last time she came back looking stressed and I have heard this kind of thing more than once. 

I would like to clarify that despite all of this I am not stressed but naturally disappointed  –  I am disappointed with this Country and I wish I could move forever to Finland where they have such a thing as open dialogue and they treat families in a decent way and patients get better because they are not forced to take drugs and pinned down and restrained by many members of staff to have an injection. 

I am saddened that people like Jean Cozens are not around today because of this barbaric treatment and tomorrow  I hope so much that it will be possible for me to be at home as I work in order to sort things out as at the weekend you get nowhere.    If only they knew what damage they are doing but at the end of the day it is right that I stand up to this kind of treatment. 

I have heard people say you have to be patient that there will be a slow improvement but it wont happen overnight.  Well I am sorry but this is not good enough   It is not just me but the professionals themselves and I know of some who should be given the highest awards and plenty of funding should be given for the universities concerned who are doing a lot of good work behind the scenes and who are helpful .  This means a lot to me.

If the wards are overflowing and there is a shortage of beds to the point that patients are being put in bed and breakfast accommodation Elizabeth has a home here and has her cat.  I would like minimal direct payments in order that Elizabeth can be integrated into society which would eliminate stigma and there is much fuss about this but in actual fact the main problem is the way patients are treated in general and the families, not all of whom are involved in abuse and yet get accused of this by social services.  At the end of the day Elizabeth is without the drugs for the evening and is very calm and stable and tomorrow I am having to get on to solicitors about this as my daughter is being deprived her medication.  It is pointless getting on the phone to the police to report the missing items amounting to £200 roughly because I know that I will get nowhere.

I want all of this addressed in Parliament because I know that I am not the only one who receives this treatment and you should given support and help not threats of court action and displacement with another family member.  The care of Elizabeth should be paramount.  It may not be an emergency to miss this evening’s drugs however this needs to be sorted out for tomorrow urgently and I think a courier should be sent to collect them from the care home and I would be willing to pay for this.  If I had driven 5 hours or more to collect them the drugs would not have been given to me and that was made very clear.  I think that someone the out of hrs doctor should have been granted the power to demand that the drugs be released but not one of three GPs could do anything. 

The whole system is failing and falling apart as when you desperately need help it is not on offer and you have to spend all day – in fact I have spent nearly 2 days trying to sort this problem out and got nowhere.  

The system needs a complete change and immediate change as well and I do not accept that this takes time and is not possible.

These words have been written to me on a piece of paper today by my daughter who I am fighting for right now.

Elizabeth has told me that it has been recent that she has had a large increase in her drugs and I may give Cambian a ring. It is between Cambian and the care home now as the care home manager has told me they have got their records wrong and that he had no idea that I was in fact the nearest relative which points to all the confusion. I find this very hard to believe myself as it is clearly documented and I have the papers so what is going wrong when there is such a “discrepancy” of information or misunderstand amongst certain members of the team and this information must have been put through to the GP. I was told by the manager of the care home that everything should be communicated through him personally whereas I have gone to the GP with my daughter’s consent. Not once has the consultant psychiatrist telephoned me back and I feel it is as though the manager of the care home is protecting certain people and just passing on messages. If a doctor does not communicate with you and you have the consent of the patient then this is very bad indeed and detrimental to the patient’s health. IN Wales the GP took concern about the 500mg of Metformine and phoned me back and acted professionally but I am not finding this at all where she has placed now by social services.

<So the drugs are running out today tea time and the care home manager is flatly refusing to release them for my daughter and insisting on her return to the care home.  I am willing to do over 4 hrs of driving today to collect the drugs from the care home but they refuse to release them.  Elizabeth has complained to me that a nurse has been "putting pressure" on her.  Behind all of this is yet again a further attempt to displace me as the nearest relative by social services with her father.   The care home manager wishes me to return Elizabeth tonight but at the same times says he does not mind if she does not come back to them however he is not prepared to give the drugs he has in case it comes back on him but what about Elizabeth and I have been referred to him by emergency social services as well as the Crisis Team. Elizabeth has said she does not want to go back to the care home and I am prepared to have her live at home as I am so concerned about the additional drugging but Elizabeth is worried about me being in trouble.  Elizabeth is not on a CTO and she is not sectioned and I am not encouraging or preventing her from taking the drugs as I am prepared to go and collect them today.   She has just come off a section 3 after about 3 yrs and is of no risk to the public or to herself but I know full well she needs the supply of these drugs. I am also most concerned that if she goes back to the care home she will be put under further pressure by members of staff, especially now she has given me the name of the nurse who has been standing in as manager but I did speak to the actual manager who was on a course yesterday who he has overall control I don't think he is medically qualified yet he is refusing the drugs prescribed to Elizabeth. The local GP surgery say I am no longer next of kin – (by this I think they mean nearest relative) they flatly refuse to speak to me and it is a weekend and you cannot get anywhere.  This prompted a call by Elizabeth's solicitor to the care home who managed to find out that behind all this was the local social services team yet again – the same team who have stuck together from the beginning and they have accused me of encouraging Elizabeth to stop taking the drugs and this is why I am unsuitable. That is a lie on their part. I may well not be happy about the drugs given but I know that my daughter has to take them and I am not a doctor so there is nothing I can do however I object to the extra drugs being given and the care home say she was already on them at Cambian but Elizabeth has told me there has only recently been a large increase in her drugs – before coming to the care home she was on 500mg Metformine and 350 of Clozapine. The CQC I spoke to yesterday say they will not get involved other than look at records and yet this leaves the question of all these extra drugs and why the entire team are choosing to ignore a report by an independent doctor appointed for the Tribunal even though there is evidence of PTSD in terms of research and how come a team can just stick together like this ignoring any underlying physical health problem. It is because I have complained that my daughter's physical health is being ignored that the team are ganging up against me and I am not imagining things either.

Anyway today I have made every effort to get the drugs Elizabeth needs. I have phoned 111 and I have spoken to operators who have now three times taken all my details. I have waited patiently for a doctor to phone me back which he did. I explained everything to this doctor – I said the care home manager refuses to give the drugs whilst I am prepared to collect them. He is insistent on Elizabeth going back there but the minute she is back she will be put under pressure by staff I know and questioned. The care home manager accuses Cambian of supplying all these drugs – it is the extra drugs lunch time that I complain of and I had no idea she was on so much. The care home manager states he never received the £200 worth of possessions from Cambian – Cambian say they sent them on. Cambian only were prescribing 500mg Metformine and 350mg Clozapine. Naturally I do not feel my daughter is in safe hands at this care home especially when they also accuse Cambian of not documenting correctly that I am the nearest relative and that her father is mentioned as nearest relative and this points the finger of blame at another hospital. It is one word against the other and the manager is profusely defending his staff. So Elizabeth is thanking me for my help – she has been put under pressure to get rid of me as nearest relative yet again and her solicitor has confirmed talks are taking place and that social services are behind it all once again.

In the meantime I have been on to this 111 number and I did get to speak to a out of hours GP who must have contacted the Home Treatment Team who have since telephoned me to say that they cannot help and neither can the emergency social services out of hours number or the Crisis Team either. So much for emergency help.

I am thinking who can I contact next and I need to get hold of a psychiatrist and of course Elizabeth and in fact any patient now can choose their own psychiatrist and the most reliable and honest psychiatrists are involved with a wonderful organisation called CEP. I am going to put out an appeal and I want a full investigation into all this because as the Nearest Relative that the team hate and want rid of I am the one who cares about my daughter's physical health and I am the one who has spent this weekend £1000 on checking her physical health with private Endocrinologist. No-one else has bothered as all they want to do is to overprescribe and drug my daughter and blame one another.

I will let you know how I get on but I have listened and taken advice and tried and tried to get hold of the Clozapine which is not readily available and yet none of these professionals are helping me. This shows that the whole system needs to be looked at and also the CQC cannot help either so where do you turn to – I would like to ask this question to every single politician and have it addressed in Parliament as this kind of thing is affecting everyone if they cannot get emergency help when they need it.

Since writing the above I have just had a call from another out of ours GP who advised me to go down to the local hospital. The local hospital has had tremendous cutbacks and I have read that the trust is being forced to spend over £1m with private providers and B&Bs instead of front line patient care. It certainly does not make economic sense whatsoever. and a ward councillor has said that the Government should look into this immediately and deliver the promise they made that someone with mental health problems gets the sdame level of care and support as someone with a physical illness. However I as a mother having seen the files question whether all along my daughter has in fact got a physical illness but is saddled with a label the team refuse to part with even though there is NO BIO MARKER FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TREATMENT RESISTANT. THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD LOOK AT A NATIONAL METABOLISM PROGRAMME AND GIVE PLENTY OF FUNDING TO THOSE BEHIND THIS AS I HAVE BEEN TRYING UNSUCCESSFULLY TO GET ELIZABETH ON A PROGRAMME FOR THIS TESTING P450 CYTOCHROME AND PATIENTS LIVES ARE BEING PUT AT RISK AND MEDICATIONS PRESCRIBED UNNECESSARILY PUTTING WHEN THEY CANNOT METABOLISE THE DRUGS. Now I as a mother am far from happy and I cannot accept that everything should take years and years on end to put right. When my daughter’s life is at risk and I have proven drugs are being overprescribed then it is right that I should wish for something to be done right now and with all the closures of NHS services this is not unreasonable as money could then be saved for the NHS. Now I have to go down to the local hospital that has suffered closures of A&E and have no idea if they can help me or not and then I have to drive to a neighbouring hospital to see if I can get the drug Clozapine for short supply. I have spent nearly all morning on the phone trying to sort this out. This is far from satisfactory and I wish for this to be addressed as a matter of extreme urgency. When no one can help you I have no choice but to send the link of this to all the top politicians so that they can get together and sort things out.

I was just out driving with Elizabeth when the phone rang and I pulled over to take the call and it was the Manager of the care home who apparently was on a course all day today.  He had been approached by the Emergency Duty Social Worker today and the social worker did as promised and had a word with him.   The Manager of the care home is in complete denial of the fact that a member of his staff approached Elizabeth and suggested she replace myself as mother with her father as the nearest relative.  Elizabeth has complained that pressure has been put upon her and I think this is appalling.   There is no way that Elizabeth would lie about this and has mentioned the name of the nurse hence I feel uncomfortable about her returning to the care home as she could be faced with problems and who knows what goes on behind closed doors.  Prior to all this I was reasonably happy until I saw the drugs charts and there was much more on there than just the Clozapine 350mg.  The Clozapine I realise cannot be stopped  so I have done my best to try and resolve the situation and have spent a good deal of my time today on the phone to social services and the care home/crisis team.  The Crisis Team could not help – they  referred me to the care home and I was prepared to drive down there which would take four hours in total and I would have gone all that way for nothing if the drugs were refused. I told the duty social worker that I wanted assurance that the nurse would release the drugs.  The Manager of the care home would have the powers to do this. However I have just spoken to the manager  and he has flatly refused to release the Clozapine.  He totally denied that a member of his staff had been talking to my daughter about  displacement of myself as nearest relative with her father.  He said he didn’t know I was the nearest relative and that Cambian had recorded that I was not and this conversation was witnessed.  If the files are not read properly or recorded properly then this is a very dangerous situation. Anyway I could not argue with him as he was not going to budge on the subject. The bottom line is that no way would he be giving my daughter the Clozapine she needs for the evening and Monday  morning medication.  This is bad and the crisis team told me they could not get hold of this drug and therefore referred me back to the care home.

All of this shows unreasonable behaviour by the team and not me as I am willing to drive 4 hours to collect the Clozapine but I am not happy about my daughter going back to this home where they have been questioning her in such a way and putting pressure on her and Elizabeth has told the family she is not happy but she is worried for me that I will get into trouble.   The care home manager said that he had no problem  if she did not want to go back there but he did have a problem in releasing the Clozapine.   The solicitors who telephoned the care home said he was not giving out any information/being helpful  – however the solicitors are acting in my daughter’s interests here and eventually he was in contact with social services themselves and had been pointed in the right direction.   I am not asking for a whole large batch of drugs – the essential ones of course are Clozapine and  this is a very unsatisfactory situation.  I cannot think of a mother who would wish to take her son/daughter back to somewhere where you are told on the phone you are not the next of kin and her father is now the next of kin and hearing from my daughter that  a nurse under the home has approached her to ask about replacement of me with her father.  All of this of course was denied by the manager of the care home who tried to make it look like a misunderstanding –  I have weighed up the situation very carefully and it is a very real situation indeed.  I recognised the name of the person I spoke to today from the emergency social services as being someone I had met once before but he did not remember me.  Well I have a good memory and I can even remember what this person looked like and where I met him.  There is no way on earth I have got anything wrong at all.  The pressure on my daughter to go along with suggestions put to her could affect her health and make her stressed out.  I cannot take that risk by returning her on Sunday like I promised but then she is not on a section or CTO – she is complying with the drugs and is not aggressive or risk to herself or others – nothing like this at all.

If I was to take Elizabeth back and leave her there I would feel very uncomfortable as a member of staff has been named by her.  I will do my best tomorrow without help from the Crisis Team or anyone of these emergency staff to ensure that my daughter does receive the drug she has to take on Sunday evening thereafter.

Today I had hoped to take Elizabeth out somewhere nice but the weather has been so bad.  Elizabeth has been tired today and asleep and has had plenty of rest.  I have been up bright and early as I had shopping to do and I needed to buy some new clothes for Elizabeth as she has put on quite a bit of weight due to the drugs.  She has an enormous appetite like never before.   Anyway after the dramas of yesterday it has been peaceful today and I have had to ring again the emergency social services and they suggested I ring the Crisis Team which I did as I know I will need a further supply of Clozapine.  I also phoned the care home and was told the Manager was on a course and a message had been left for the manager to contact me.  After speaking to the Crisis Team they suggested I phone the care home as they could not help me with the Clozapine.  They suggested the care home send a supply of Clozapine to me but that was refused and I said she needed some for Sunday.  In response the care home told me I had to contact the Manager on Monday – well what good is this!  I then had to ring the emergency social services again and they also referred me to the care home and told me to go down and pick up the drugs.  Well I then said to the duty social worker that I could be driving for 4 hrs or more all the way there for nothing if this nurse who was put in charge refused to release the drugs and then that would be a waste of time so he did in the end after I had pointed this fact out telephone the care home and said he would get back to me once he had heard from the Manager who has to give this consent.  I do not know what I am going to do if I do not get a call back as I am not prepared to drive for miles on end to be told by whoever is in charge that I cannot have the supply of drugs at all.  I need this confirmed first and I have done everything properly and everything as the emergency social services suggested to me.

I am amazed that it is so difficult to get this drug and I know that this is needed for Elizabeth –  she has not needed any extra drugs since staying with me and she has had a relaxing time staying with me.   If I had not received such an approach stating ” were are not speaking to you – you are no longer the next of kin”  I probably would have taken her back.  However I am very pleased that I checked everything out as there seems to be a lot going on behind my back right now.

I would like to see Open Dialogue in the UK as I believe this is the way forward –  it is wrong to use a vulnerable person putting pressure on them in such a way that I as nearest relative will be displaced when I am not refusing the drugs – my complaint is hearing what I heard yesterday and the extra drugs on top of what I thought was the only prescribed drug – Clozapine – in other words I am concerned they are over-medicating my daughter and have already been told that the 350mg of Clozapine is rather high.  It is not doing her any good if she is in bed so early and having to sleep in the afternoons and I don’t see anything therapeutic in this drug whatsoever – however I do not mention this to Elizabeth so there is no excuse for anyone in the team to say that I am encouraging her to stop taking the drugs or putting words in her head.  It is not me who is putting words in her head that is for sure.  I am the one who is concerned about physical health whereas others are not.  I am the one who wanted the Endocrinologist appointment and P450 Cytochrome tests and I hope that by speaking openly and honestly about this something will be done to ensure improvements for everyone.  I have plenty of patience in dealing with this kind of thing – although I wish I had more time but there is expertise in this country and there are good professionals – you only have to look at the CEP (Council for Evidence Based Psychiatry).

Yesterday I decided to phone the care home as I have noticed they are giving what seems to be a lot of extra drugs on top of the 350mg of Clozapine which I am told is too high and should be 100mg for a therapeutic dose.  I have already complained about what I see as over-medication and showed my concern for Elizabeth’s well being.  The care home responded that they would be having a meeting to discuss all of this but then I heard nothing and not once have I ever been invited to any of the meetings or the rest of the family come to that.   When I was told by a new member of staff that the drugs were nothing to do with them and were being prescribed by her GP I then telephoned the GP.  “you are no longer the next of kin” I was then told.   I was shocked by their response – all I wanted was the team to have a meeting that included the family to discuss about my daughter being on minimal drugs.   I could not get hold of the Manager and he had not returned my calls hence my last strongly written blog called “communication”.    I think communication is very important and I have found that very lacking with the team as they do not include you.  Well I was not outspoken to begin with –  I have never felt that the drugs were the answer and Elizabeth should never have been put on so many.  These drugs have done nothing for her and my concern is for her physical health well being.  I have not been impressed by the GP’s strict 10 minute only policy.  I did not come across that with the previous GP in Wales –  Elizabeth did not know who her GP was and I was very concerned about the prescription of 500mg of Metformin a day – knowing this was contra indicated to Clozapine and I queried this and Elizabeth was with me at the GP surgery in Wales and gave me permission in front of staff in that I could help –  after all Elizabeth was not allowed out on her own and would not have been able to pick up the phone and dial the GP let alone her solicitor who never came near her and who called my solicitor a “dick head”  –  this solicitor was recommended to my daughter by Cambian who approached her and said “it would be better if you have a local firm as you are in Wales now” – these were the kind of words used and the solicitor never wrote back to my solicitor and this just ended up dragging the procedures of the Tribunal out making it lengthy.  When someone is highly sedated on drugs it weakens them and they do not have the strength to pick up the phone and deal with issues like this – that is why so many end up institutionalised not because they are a risk to the public or risk to themselves but simply because they cannot face having to go through a tribunal or dealing with even phone calls for instance.  It does not help either in the case of some patients who have had their phones taken away and discouragement in contacting their families – ie coercion.

Getting back to the care home –  I saw three packages of drugs marked “morning”  – “lunch time” and “Tea time” – it was the lunch time drugs I was questioning – these drugs were marked for “aggression/agitation”.   Well Elizabeth is not aggressive – she is on Clozapine last resort drug.     Elizabeth does suffer from anxiety but there has been no need to take these extra drugs whilst she has been at home.  Elizabeth has not suffered from anxiety as I have not been pressuring her to go to places where there are crowds, I have not been pressuring Elizabeth at all and she has had no need whatsoever for these extra drugs.  It was the extra drugs I have been complaining about and my worries for her physical health that I have accused the team of not caring about because all they have been doing is continuing the current drugging regime and what is more is that under this care home there would never be any review.  Elizabeth is young compared to most of the people in the care home –  there is 1 other person – male who is around the same age but hardly ever there.  Inside the care home it is spotlessly clean and the staff come across friendly – any inspector would give them full marks for an inspection and of course Elizabeth has been used to towing the line – ie when you are surrounded by staff you end up going along with things.  She has been complying with the drugs and knows this has to and she has not given the staff any problems.    I have also not up until now had any problems with the staff there and have even written a glowing report about them and how pleased I was with the services that was up until now.    Referring to the extra drugs I asked Elizabeth was she given these every day and got the impression they were dished out frequently –  the Manager had previously told me that they were given as and when Elizabeth needed them and of course I am against unnecessary extra drugs but I got the impression they were given more frequently and regularly and I am concerned about this.  For instance Elizabeth mentioned one member of staff there who I do not wish to name on my blog.  This member of staff said words to the effect “these drugs have been prescribed as when you came back last time from home you did not look too good and that the drugs were needed” – ………….words to this effect – this made me think back to Cambian where nursing staff tried to discredit me for missing 1 metformin tablet when it was not just me who had her but the rest of the family and also they commented along the same lines that Elizabeth came back to them looking stressed out.  I think this is go bad –  the truth is that Elizabeth has not need one of the extra drugs.  She has not been denied them by me but has not asked for them.  The truth is that Elizabeth has been no trouble at home, I have not even  had to remind her to take the drugs.  I see Elizabeth has started smoking since going to the care home – in the garden it is very pretty but this is like a smoking area.   Whilst under Cambian she had stopped smoking.    I heard she had been taken swimming – the OT at the care home had taken notice as I mentioned that if they had a swimming group this may be good for Elizabeth and that I would pay for any extras.

Anyway, I had a friend who came to visit me yesterday who has been through a lot – the friend like all of my friends is not someone who would give Elizabeth bad advice – in fact this friend could not have given better advice and how this person stayed away from drink/drugs – did not copy others and looked to keeping healthy and getting on with her life.   It is good for Elizabeth to hear how someone has recovered and getting on with their lives.

The care home have a nice lounge with TV and a communal kitchen – Elizabeth has a nice bedroom there.   The location is urban not countryside so there are shops and good facilities and bus routes nearby however not once has Elizabeth ventured out.  After 3 years in hospital someone can become dependant and completely lose confidence.   The people/residents under the care home seem nice however that is not the issue here.  When the manager does not return your calls, when no one in the team wants to work with you and excludes you, when extra drugs are given despite you bringing to the attention that the level of drugs is too high.  That is where they should be holding a meeting to discuss about doing what they can with Elizabeth’s physical health.    When I phoned the GP surgery they did not want to deal with me – the GP was out.  When I phoned the care home they referred me to the GP and said if it was a complaint about the drugs it was nothing to do with them but I should contact the GP.  Anyway a firm of solicitors telephoned the care home and told me that the manager did not seem helpful and forthcoming with information.  Finally he managed to find out that it was in fact all pointing in the direction yet again of social services.  Apparently instead of holding meetings about my concerns as to the wellbeing of my daughter on all these extra drugs it would appear that discussions are on-going about getting rid of me again as the nearest relative.  All this has been going on behind my back by the local social services team and I am not the only one being bullied by social services.   The team is the same that have been around from virtually the start of Elizabeth’s care.  The reason they do not like me is that I have had good cause to complain.  I have complained about serious incidents not only under hospital care but care in the community and once you complain then they do not like you.   If they had been helpful from the start and done what they could to assist I would have had no complaints but there is no openness or honesty with these people and whilst I was being open and honest with them, social services were being the opposite.

Anyway I have sought advice as Elizabeth who wanted to come home in the first instance was denied this by social services.  Social services pointed at the fact they did not want her to come home but they have no grounds to accuse me –  members of the team have tried to accuse me in the past of encouraging Elizabeth/influencing her to stop taking the drugs and this is untrue.  It was always Elizabeth who had complained of the side effects who wanted to come off them but I am not qualified to do things properly and nothing has been done properly as regards a withdrawal before resulting in failure and then Elizabeth has been told that she has to take the drugs for the rest of her life. 

I have been challenging the diagnosis and this is another reason the team do not like me.  The social services have dismissed a full report by the independent doctor and trivualised the contents therein.  Elizabeth had been denied sight of this report which recommends a very different treatment to what she is getting – intensive trauma therapy”  and it does not recommend Clozapine and this drug is not recommended for PTSD as I have looked up NICE Guidelines so again I have had cause to complain as they have not only excluded myself but they have treated Elizabeth like she is nothing by not being honest and open and giving her a copy of the report with new diagnosis.  All of this led me to seek further Professional advice at top expert level and from people who know better than most GPs and psychiatrists as to how these drugs work – how to safely withdraw someone and this has led me to question the knowledge of the medical profession in general when no one had heard of P450 Cytrochome tests and I then tried to find out where could I get such tests done as it is so important – if my daughter cannot metabolize the drugs then she should not be on them as this could be harming her physical health.  I believe these important tests should be readily available and I know of a university where there is a programme of these tests going on so I tried to get Elizabeth on this programme but the Professor concerned is out of the country.    The GP had not heard of such tests and the consultant psychiatrist does not want to speak to me so this is not a good situation where you have to pass messages through the care home manager  to the consultant psychiatrist and then the care home manager has written to say that I should communicate directly with him however I am now thinking that in all this time there must have been meetings going on, perhaps the centre of the meeting is their discussion on how to replace me yet again with her father.   I have accused social services of causing a rift in the family, putting my younger daughter in a position between myself and her father who lives a distance away and is working full time as I am now.  Anyway I wish to share the following about Nearest Relatives: 

“Husbands and wives are equally on the hierarchy of NR’s where offspring are concerned, both in the highest category (a) of section 26 MHA 1983.  Notwithstanding the general rule that persons higher up the list take precedence (not applicable here) where a patient ordinarily resides with, or is cared for by a relative before admission to hospital that relative is the nearest relative of the patient.  The legal authority is Re D (Mental patient: habeas corpus) (2000) 2 FLR 848.  He therefore can only be NR if he is involved in direct care and if he was so at the time of her admission.  They will of course try to invoke the test of unreasonableness on your part.  If your ex-husband is ‘appointed’ by the treatment team by operation of S26 MHA you can object on the grounds that he is not in the best position to act on your daughter’s behalf.”

This is all a terrible waste of public money – to apply to court, to have to allocate more solicitors – what a waste of public funds.  If I as a mother was going to take her off the drugs and do this myself fair enough but that is not the case I am not qualified and know Elizabeth cannot just come off them.   Whilst I thought a country environment – farm with animals was a better environment but Elizabeth  has not been sent there and I thought a therapeutic community would be more natural.

I am now looking at the local paper and on the front page is featured “Mental Health Patients Being Placed in B&Bs.”  – one of the reasons I thought it would be better for Elizabeth to get away from the local area was because the care had failed and serious incidents had occurred however to my disappointment I discovered there was even more shocking care elsewhere but I will now feature some of this article about the local area:

“Hundreds of patients being discharged into bed and breakfast accommodation to free up mental health services each year as a result of toxic combination of spending cuts and increasing demand.  There is a figure of £264,000 on discharging patients into B&Bs for 36 days on average spent over 2012/13.   The trust has spent 11 times more on placing patients with private providers compared to 2 years ago.  The budget increased from £89,000 in 2012 to just under £1,000,000 during the first ten months of 2013/14 with an average between £440 and £530 a night spent on securing a single bed usually with private health firms The Priory or Cygnet.  So now the massive increase in use of external beds has resulted in the Trust having to cut the number of inpatient services by a third over the past 5 years whilst demand has increased.  One councillor who I do not wish to name in this blog states that he is disappointed to see the trust being forced to spend over £1m with private providers who are making a profit from the NHS.  He quite rightly goes on to say that the money should go into front line patient care and that it doesn’t make economic sense.  He urges the Government to immediately look into the funding and deliver the promise they made that someone with mental health problems gets the same level of care and support as someone with a physical illness (HOWEVER I WOULD GO ONE STEP FURTHER THAN THIS – PERHAPS THE MH PATIENT HAS A PHYSICAL ILLNESS THAT HAS NEVER BEEN FULLY INVESTIGATED AND PERHAPS THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN REFERRED TO AN ENDOCRINOLIGST AND HAD THE LATEST TESTS DONE AND MOST ACCURATE ONES WHICH UNFORTUNATELY I DISCOVERED ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN THE UK AND AM FINDING OUT ABOUT THIS).

In their defense the Trust said B&Bs were only used for patients who had been clinically assessed as ready for discharge –  however I would point out there were times that Elizabeth was discharged and she was in no way well enough to be discharged and just dumped into her scheme into the community without any extra support.

The spokesman said that significant pressures on services recently has been seen – no wonder why if the care is all about enforced drugging without looking at someone’s physical care – no wonder why the care in general is not working for everyone when patients are not given consideration and are told they face a lifetime of drugging –  this is abuse in my opinion and allowed by law to go on in a so called civilised country.   The try and say they attempt to locate a bed with another NHS provider firstly before looking at the independent sector and that B&Bs were only temporary.  Well the CQC have given them a warning when they found seclusion rooms being used as bedroom but the mental health trust now says that this is no longer being done. 

Well before all this became headline local news I could see the scenario of revolving door with Elizabeth being admitted time and time again and seeing the same faces back on the wards. 

On a ward the main care is drugs and with money being wasted not just on this but drugs to patients who may not even be able to metabolize them as there is no national testing programme in the UK – this denies lifesaving drugs to those who do need them for physical conditions as they are too expensive.  Money is being wasted on pushing drugs to my daughter and Clozapine is not a cheap drug and could lead to long term serious health problems if she is left on them for the rest of her life like the team see fit.  Plus all the extra drugs being given to Elizabeth right now on top –  what is this all doing to her physical health when she was a trauma victim.  As with many people under the MH they are victims of trauma and the drugs do not work for everyone but there is no choice and staff can be brutal by forcing a patient to have an injection rather than take the drugs.  One of the members of SOAP group Jean Cozens is a shining example here of someone who due to enforced drugging and level of drugs to the point she could no longer enjoy life ending with her taking her own life –  members of the group recently attended the Inquest.  So giving drugs to a treatment resistant patient is a waste of money and also much money is being wasted by social services by taking people like me to court and displacing nearest relatives.  Just think about it the solicitors are appointed by the council – the patient has a solicitor and the nearest relative has a solicitor and things can drag on and on and on depending on whether a patient is supported properly by his/her solicitor – a good solicitor would make a point of visiting the patient and instead of waiting for someone to telephone them especially when someone is vulnerable like Elizabeth.

Anyway to think this is going on for a third time whilst the team desperately try and replace me again when they could point the finger at me accusing me of being a danger to the patient – however by the way Elizabeth is not on a section any more – she is also not on a CTO so therefore she is free to do as she wants.  Her first wish was to come home but social services said no to this however they did not seem to mind her going to her fathers home – they cannot deny her leave as there is no grounds to do this.  I am not a risk to Elizabeth –  she does not return to them in a stressed out state – I would accuse the team of once again sticking together using tactics that amount to coercion.  When things are in such a mess locally the team should be looking at ways in which to save money not waste money.    Now they are all in discussions so I heard – these discussions are no doubt centred on myself rather than concerns to do with.

Anyway,  at the end of the day I finally got a call from the manager of the care home but did not realise he had left a message.  I have not spoken to him yet but spent over an hour trying to get through to emergency social services.   I have to praise the person who took the call and how she dealt with me –  I wanted to speak to someone there as Elizabeth has expressed her desire to come home.  It is no good if a team are questioning Elizabeth to choose between mother and father who by the way are on good terms and cause trouble in the family – this is what has been going on since the Bethlem and Cambian and now the care home – unbelievable!  What a nurse should be asking a patient is “how are you” – “are you OK” “is there any problems with the drugs”  “is there any problems in general”  – instead the nurse is asking Elizabeth if she would prefer her father to be the nearest relative which puts pressure on her and causes upset –  if this is what this team are doing then it is not doing her physical health any good to go back there and if it is Elizabeth’s wish to come home and she is of no risk to herself and others then this should not be a problem and would save money to the local council who are wasting a fortune by the looks of this front page article.

Yesterday I contacted the CQC  – they virtually told me there was nothing they could do apart from look at the records to see if they were being kept OK –  well what good is this!  there is far more to looking at the records and the CQC also do not investigate individual complaints even if they are serious and even if you point out there is more than one patient complaining of human rights.  Still the CQC do nothing whatsoever.

I was then advised to complain about social services by the CQC as though this was mainly their responsibility when I am in fact complaining of the extra drugging in the main.    So I was not impressed by this but not surprised at all.

I then wasted an hour trying to get through to the emergency social services to tell them what had happened and that I was most concerned as to what was going on and Elizabeth’s well being not only that she expressed her desire to be at home again.  Well I could not get through to them.  I will try again today. 

Now suddenly this care home manager has left me a message and I have not got back to him as yet.    There is suddenly a new person working there who told me to complain to social services – for all I know he could be part of social services keeping an eye on things but I am just assuming –  I responded that I was not on good terms with social services that they had tried twice to replace me as the nearest relative and that I had nothing to say to this team –  they should be the ones to get in touch with me and communicate but do not bother.  Even if you do not like someone you are paid out of public funds to communicate –  one of the reasons I so wanted to go into the Police Force was to communicate and work with those with mental health conditions as I was shocked at how I saw them being treated by professionals and I am not saying that all professionals are bad.

So now I have quite a dilemma –  I know that if I do not return Elizabeth to the care home social services will spring into action and I will get court papers sent to me by email like last in front of all my work colleagues.  On the other hand now that Elizabeth has mentioned a name of a member of staff who I would accuse of coercion I would be concerned for Elizabeth’s wellbeing if she was returned to the care home even if this manager gave me all the assurances in the world. 

There is also the issue of the drugs which will have run out by Sunday – the day I am supposed to take Elizabeth back. 

I would like to share this with everyone to show what is going on in reality behind the scenes and this is money being wasted  simply because the team do not like me.   People may think well she has herself to blame by her blog for instance I have been accused “she is not helping herself”  – there you can see that these words were said not to me but to my daughter.  “do you really want your mother to be the nearest relative” said the consultant psychiatrist at Cambian who left by the way and I found out that this consultant psychiatrist is also a GP so someone told me.   I did not have a blog in the first instance and this has come about as a result of my despair by what I have seen.  I find I am not alone in this despair and my reason for making this so open and honest is because I feel this is the way forward.  Forget anti-stigma campaigns if things were brought out in the open then there would be no stigma – it is secrecy and sensational press reporting and ignorance that cause stigma.  Anyway these campaigns are not doing anything to ease the overwhelming failure of the care system for MH patients and inhumane treatment of patient allowed to go on under the law.  These are human beings at the end of the day and can respond if they are treated well in a positive manner.  I am impressed by the intelligence of the former patients I meet up with and like I say many have been abuse victims themselves and getting back to the Metabolism Programme – if these tests were on offer then it could be the best solution of all as if this is ignored and patients continually drugged concomitantly with say contra indicated drugs for instance not only will their physical health decline but the adverse reactions in terms of behaviour could be the very cause of interactions from drugs that a patient is routinely given and kept on – that is why the system is not working and much money could be saved to the NHS rather than wasted on drugs that do not work for a MH patient who is ignored by the team as Elizabeth is. 

Well I am not criticising all consultant psychiatrists as there are good ones to be found on the website of CEP (Council for Evidence Based Psychiatry)  Also there was one good social worker at the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the social workers for my father who had Alzheimers were brilliant so as you can see I have come across good members of staff plus the junior nursing staff at the Bethlem and a couple of nurses who escorted Elizabeth to visit me before Xmas when the consultant psychiatrist denied leave over the Xmas period to the entire family. 

Anyway I will make a further attempt to contact social services emergency out of hours today and the care home unless the out of hours social services themselves wish to contact them. I would otherwise have taken Elizabeth back on the Sunday but now the situation has changed when I feel that this culd cause her stress and health problems if she is being questioned by her nurse about replacement of me as Nearest Relative yet again and that the risk is too great for Elizabeth – what is more, she expressed her wish to come in front of friends but was also very worried that there could be trouble for me and a vulnerable patient like Elizabeth should not be put under such pressure by a team who simply want to get rid of the nearest relative when there is no reason for this – I am the only one who is caring for her physical health by the looks of it whilst the team are pursuing their wishes to see me displaced with her father. I would conclude that this is a very nasty situation by people who are meant to help and assist not drag parents to court when there is no risk. It is a good thing that I am bringing this out in the open as I know of others affected.