Mind responds to undercover documentary exposing failings on Essex NHS mental health wards
Hospital Undercover: Are Our Wards Safe? produced by Dispatches and broadcast on Channel 4 on World Mental Health Day highlighted poor practices on various wards run by Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.
Secret filming revealed patients being cruelly treated and unnecessarily restrained, slow responses to patients attempting suicide, patients absconding and staff sleeping on shift. The programme also interviewed the loved ones of several patients who had lost their lives while meant to be under the care of the Trust, or shortly after being discharged.
Responding to the documentary, Vicki Nash, Associate Director of Policy, Campaigns and Public Affairs at Mind, said:
"This is yet another powerful and upsetting documentary exposing failings in the mental health services we expect and trust will keep us safe and help us get better when we're at our most unwell.
"We know that good practice exists, but it's clear that poor practice could be happening anywhere. We urgently need all Mental Health Trusts to review the care they provide to make sure people are getting the help they need and are being treated with dignity and respect. The consequences of patients and their loved ones being failed by statutory services across the country can be devastating, even fatal. That’s why we are calling for a full public statutory inquiry into NHS inpatient mental health services across England. At the very least, people should expect to be kept safe while receiving treatment for their mental health and treated with care, compassion and dignity."
