Suffolk Children and Young People's Emotional Wellbeing Hub
Feedback Rating
Based on 11 reviews
Reviews (11)
Incorrect information & a result of no help
July 23, 2018
I have recently contacted the Hub to find urgent support for a young person who had disclosed feeling suicidal and am really disappointed by my experience.
I chose to contact the new Hub first, as I thought having a multi-skilled team and a no door closes ethos they would be able to help me or at least signpost me to the correct service. The website also refers to the Hub as replacing “the NSFT (Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust) Access and Assessment Service for 0-25-year” and so seemed an obvious choice.
I was immediately told “we are not a crisis service” and told to contact the Access and Assessment team (AAT).
I contacted the AAT and was asked if it was urgent or an emergency – a question I had not been asked before, and the criteria was not explained to me. The attitude of the member of staff was not helpful or empathetic and as a human being (never mind being the “professional making the referral”), being asked to choose whether someone is seen within 4 or 72 hours felt an impossible question.
If I felt the situation was an emergency, I would have contacted the emergency services or suggested A&E. It felt like no one wanted to take responsibility for this young person in crisis, and they wanted me to decide how likely they were to harm themselves in the near future.
It felt like the AAT staff member lost patience with my uncertainty and passed me back to the Wellbeing Hub. The member of staff at the wellbeing Hub said I had “said it wasn’t an emergency” to AAT and so had been passed back. By this point I was really frustrated and confused.
Eventually, as the young person is currently awaiting an assessment with Suffolk Wellbeing, I was told that I could contact Wellbeing and they would speed up the referral. When I finally got through to Wellbeing I was told this was incorrect, there is no way to speed up a referral and the only other thing I could do was to call their GP surgery (which happened to be closed for training that day).
By this point it was after 5pm, the young person had left our building and I had to call them to explain that the services I had told them about earlier, who should be able to help, were not able to do so. I felt embarrassed and bitterly disappointed that no one seemed willing to help me help this young person; that staff attitudes were poor and ultimately, this young person was let down after being brave enough to disclose how they really felt.
To add to this, I was left distressed at the thought of not having made the right referral; not knowing whether I should have stated it as an emergency and ultimately responsible for the young person and their wellbeing.
I understand that there has to be criteria for crisis services, but I cannot understand how decisions are placed on people making referrals without explanation of the criteria and why staff can’t signpost or offer useful advice in the meantime. This is not the first time I have been turned away trying to get help for someone feeling suicidal; services need to talk to each other and ensure they have the correct information, signposting abilities and empathy.
I chose to contact the new Hub first, as I thought having a multi-skilled team and a no door closes ethos they would be able to help me or at least signpost me to the correct service. The website also refers to the Hub as replacing “the NSFT (Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust) Access and Assessment Service for 0-25-year” and so seemed an obvious choice.
I was immediately told “we are not a crisis service” and told to contact the Access and Assessment team (AAT).
I contacted the AAT and was asked if it was urgent or an emergency – a question I had not been asked before, and the criteria was not explained to me. The attitude of the member of staff was not helpful or empathetic and as a human being (never mind being the “professional making the referral”), being asked to choose whether someone is seen within 4 or 72 hours felt an impossible question.
If I felt the situation was an emergency, I would have contacted the emergency services or suggested A&E. It felt like no one wanted to take responsibility for this young person in crisis, and they wanted me to decide how likely they were to harm themselves in the near future.
It felt like the AAT staff member lost patience with my uncertainty and passed me back to the Wellbeing Hub. The member of staff at the wellbeing Hub said I had “said it wasn’t an emergency” to AAT and so had been passed back. By this point I was really frustrated and confused.
Eventually, as the young person is currently awaiting an assessment with Suffolk Wellbeing, I was told that I could contact Wellbeing and they would speed up the referral. When I finally got through to Wellbeing I was told this was incorrect, there is no way to speed up a referral and the only other thing I could do was to call their GP surgery (which happened to be closed for training that day).
By this point it was after 5pm, the young person had left our building and I had to call them to explain that the services I had told them about earlier, who should be able to help, were not able to do so. I felt embarrassed and bitterly disappointed that no one seemed willing to help me help this young person; that staff attitudes were poor and ultimately, this young person was let down after being brave enough to disclose how they really felt.
To add to this, I was left distressed at the thought of not having made the right referral; not knowing whether I should have stated it as an emergency and ultimately responsible for the young person and their wellbeing.
I understand that there has to be criteria for crisis services, but I cannot understand how decisions are placed on people making referrals without explanation of the criteria and why staff can’t signpost or offer useful advice in the meantime. This is not the first time I have been turned away trying to get help for someone feeling suicidal; services need to talk to each other and ensure they have the correct information, signposting abilities and empathy.
