Hi
I posted more than a year ago about the difficulties I have had with getting support for my daughter, who has mental health issues as well as physical health problems, which are being neglected because my husband and I are too exhausted to keep taking her to appointments. This year my husband , who has already had a stroke, had 2 seizures and has been told he cannot drive now. I managed to get the LA to do an assessment for him, but they were unwilling to consider his caring role for my daughter. The reason for this is because they refuse to do an assessment for her. Despite 3 letters, all sent by recorded delivery, as well as phone calls to the LA, they just will not respond to the request. They pass all my letters on to the mental health team, despite my daughter being discharged a year ago, and despite me telling them they do not have my permission. I complained to the Ombudsman who said they had done nothing wrong and that anytime my daughter wanted an assessment, she just had to ask. I later discovered, after accessing my daughter’s records, that someone from the council had written to the MH team, telling them that he was going to persuade the Ombudsman not to take the complaint any further. He went on to say that he was going to arrange a round table meeting with us, which a year on, has never happened. Presumably the Ombudsman believed him.The resolution I asked for from the Ombudsman , was that he asked them to agree to a meeting.
So my question is: without a solicitor to enforce the law, how do I get them to respond?
Oh what a palaver! Try complaining to the Health Social Care omsbudman. Also hire a solicitor pronto. Without one, you will find it much more harder. Trust me on this.
Keep detailed notes just in case. Have you contacted your local politican or not? This is like a really bad movie. Consider telling your story. Sell it as a human rights article for maximum impact. I am sure that the papers will be interested. Good luck!
Is your daughter on income related benefits? If so, she should be entitled to Legal Aid.
We have tried a solicitor but time and again they say they haven’t capacity. I have had 2 that have suddenly stopped doing the case. One because they no longer dealt with this kind of issue, and the other because it had all been resolved, apparently. It is a very complicated case and i think some solicitors are reluctant because some of the issues are related to mental health. I need a solicitor that is not afraid of taking on the NHS. Yes i tried the local M.P. who passed the issue on to local councillor who was on the board of the MH services.
the bottom line is that the services all listen to the MH team, as they are “professionals”. Yet I have so much evidence of their lies and their deliberate attempts to prevent her getting help. I feel as if I am in a Kafka novel- I am on trial for a crime which I have no knowledge of, nor can i offer a defence because they will not tell me the crime, or even respond in any way. What is the point of having laws, if they are ignored and the solicitors have only so many that will take on cases with legal aid?I shall continue because there is no alternative but it is so so hard.
Try saying you will publish your story in a paper. Will that work or not?
Were these Legal Aid solicitors?
Yes these were legal aid solicitors. although I have also recently approached a pro bono advocacy service to see if I can get some advice, and have yet to hear whether they can/will help. They can only help if it will not take a barrister longer than 3 days.
I have thought about publicity but as quite private people, find it difficult. though I won’t rule it out.
This mental health service has been responsible for many deaths , with through suicides and murders, where they neglected to help people suffering. Yet still it goes on, without any real redress.
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This mental health service has been responsible for many deaths , with through suicides and murders, where they neglected to help people suffering. Yet still it goes on, without any real redress.
Main MENTAL HEALTH MELTDOWN thread :
The Ombudsman works in mysterious ways. I’ve had a running battle with Hampshire CC, who say one thing and do another. I wrote back to the Ombudsman who dealt with the initial enquiry, he said he couldn’t do anything, but after many months I went back to the Ombudsman’s service, not the same man, and they are now “reopening the case”. I suggest you give this a try. I can send you a PM with further details if it would help?
Yes Bowling Bun
i would appreciate that, I had wondered about contacting them again.
Chris from the Gulag
Yes this thread is very accurate. Yet there are resources- they offered my daughter more than £100, 000 for treatment in a hospital far from home, with inadequate care for her physical health. ( anyone who watched the documentary about the deaths at the Priory earlier this year will know what I am talking about)The same people - the mental health team- that were offered counselling for the upset of Brexit. So plenty of funding there. Some people think there is no help for trauma, because it is not offered- either the person is deemed too well to have it, and then classed as too unwell i.e too unstable to have it. Someone somewhere is making a lot of money out of people’s suffering.