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Mind says mental health patients survey findings are just "the tip of the iceberg"

Posted: Wednesday 4 August 2004

Mind says mental health patients survey findings are just "the tip of the iceberg".

Healthcare Commission finds patients aren’t consulted enough – Mind says true picture is "hit and miss experience"

Mind, the leading mental health charity in England and Wales, today (4 August) responded the new patients’ survey from the Healthcare Commission by saying that the findings are the tip of the iceberg. The charity, which will be releasing its own survey of mental health inpatient conditions in September, said that a high proportion of people with mental health problems face unsafe, un-therapuetic conditions in hospital, and all too often are treated with little respect or dignity by health professionals.

The Healthcare Commission’s first ever patient survey of people with mental health problems found that 15 per said they did not have enough say in decisions about their care and treatment, while 44 per cent said they only had a say to some extent. Eighteen per cent said their diagnosis had not been discussed with them.

However, Mind says that the true picture is worse. A new report published by the charity in September will reveal that:

  • over a quarter of people who had been inpatients said they rarely felt safe while in hospital
  • only one in five people felt that they were treated with respect and dignity by staff
  • over half of inpatients with mental health problems said that hospital surroundings did not help their recovery (1).

Previous Mind research has also found that:

  • 98 per cent of respondents visiting their GP for mental health problems were prescribed medication, despite the fact that less than one in five had specifically asked for it
  • over half (54 per cent) of respondents felt they had not been given enough choice
  • of those who had tried alternative treatments, over one in three had to take the initiative and ask for it – and often pay for it – themselves
  • almost 10 per cent of all respondents had been unable to access treatments because waiting lists were too long (2).

Responding to today’s findings Richard Brook, Chief Executive of Mind, said:

"The Healthcare Commission's survey is an important step in quantifying patients views of their mental health care. However it only tells part of a very mixed picture. Mind’s work suggests people get even less information about their diagnosis and treatment than this survey suggests. Even worse, we know many people are not getting even basic protection form harassment and abuse, or access to help when they need it. Reading between the lines of this survey, mental health care remains very much a hit and miss experience in twenty-first century Britain."

*** Ends ***

Notes to editors:

  1. New research from Mind Ward Watch Report, to be published 7 September 2004.
  2. Mind My Choice survey, 2002

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