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Mental health hospitals are ‘re-traumatising’ patients

Thursday, 24 October 2024 Mind

An independent report published today by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) has found that mental health patients are being ‘re-traumatised’ in hospitals.

The report is the first in a series of investigations focused on mental health inpatient settings, announced last year by the previous Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. It follows a growing number of whistleblowing stories and pressure from Mind as part of its Raise the Standard campaign.    

The report shows how mental health inpatient settings are not just falling short of care standards, but in some cases harming patients, with widespread failures across key areas including workforce, built environment, and social and organisational factors. Key findings include: 

  • Patient safety is being impacted by systemic staffing issues including recruitment, retention and skills shortages  

  • Workforce challenges and poorly maintained facilities contributed to patient deaths, harm to patients or others, deterioration in physical health and sexual harm  

  • In some wards visited by HSSIB, 50% of the staff were temporary staff and some wards had no permanent registered mental health nurse 

  • Some buildings were found to be unsafe and in a state of disrepair with ligature risks, privacy concerns and limited space. Patients described them as ‘grim’ and ‘oppressive’. But providers found that physical health estates were often being prioritised over mental health by funders

  • Between 2016 and 2023 there was a 24% increase in the number of patients in mental health hospitals 

  • Devastating first-hand testimony and case studies of people let down by the mental health system, including: 

    • A patient who died from a pulmonary embolism and was not monitored despite being immobile for a day, and not eating or drinking for two days

    • A patient who experienced traumatic flashbacks of a past sexual assault after being manually restrained to be given medications

Dr Sarah Hughes, Chief Executive of Mind, said:  

“This report reveals the brutal truth about the state of mental health hospitals, which is that they are now so broken they are ‘re-traumatising’ patients. What should be places of recovery have, for too many people, become places of pain and fear.  Therapeutic care is now the exception not the norm. 

“This is made even harder by the outdated Mental Health Act that doesn’t give people nearly enough say over their care. No-one under the care of the state should have their psychological, physical or sexual safety put at risk, or lose their life due to system failure. We know that good care does exist, with the report noting that staff often want to make changes to deliver the best care they can, against a backdrop of surging demand and crumbling estates. But a lack of resources means they are being set up to fail. Decades of underfunding and a lack of long-term planning have left inpatient wards facing chronic staffing issues and buildings that are not fit for purpose. 

“This report is an important first step in addressing the crisis in our mental health hospitals. Alongside today’s recommendations from HSSIB, NHS England has developed a vision of better inpatient mental health care. Now, we need the UK government to take action, delivering the political will and funding to make that vision a reality. We need a shift in culture, away from coercive approaches to trauma-informed ones, with high quality planning and resourcing to make that possible. We need a reformed Mental Health Act, that addresses shameful racist inequalities and strengthens people’s rights. And with the Budget around the corner, we need to see consistent and protected investment for the mental health workforce and estates.

“It is 2024, yet you could be forgiven for thinking parts of this report were from 1924. This has to change and we at Mind will not stop campaigning until it does.” 

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