Government has "allowed its own priorities to slip off the radar", accuses Mind

Posted Tuesday 20 July 2004

Doubling of zero star status among Mental Health Trusts is scandalous betrayal of people in need of services, says charity.

Mind, the leading mental health charity in England and Wales, reacted to today’s admission that twice as many mental health trusts have zero star status this year than last, by accusing the Government of allowing one of its own healthcare priorities to slip off the radar.

The charity, which is preparing to launch a report revealing unsafe and
untherapeutic conditions in mental health inpatient care, said the fact that almost one in ten trusts were given zero stars did not come as a surprise, but is still a scandal. According to new research undertaken by Mind, an unacceptable proportion of people still face unsafe, untherapeutic and undignified conditions in hospital. Mixed sex wards and washing facilities are far from a thing of the past, and intimidation and abuse are commonplace.

Furthermore, the charity’s day to day’s work confirms that community services, although improving in many places, remain patchy, incoherent, and badly resourced. Communication between different agencies is often poor, and patient transitions from one part of the service to the next are badly managed.
Basic requirements, such as giving patients a care plan which outlines what they can expect and allows them a say in their treatment, are still far too often not fulfilled.

Sophie Corlett, Policy Director of Mind, said:
“We are all too aware of the appalling lack of care faced by people with mental health problems in many places. However, the fact that the picture has got worse rather than better over the past year is a sad indictment of the Government’s lack of commitment to its own stated priorities. It is time for some action now, instead of the rhetoric we have been fed so far.”

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