Walker Close

Spoke with a man today, made to feel that my mental health not in need of support, been really struggling, have many difficulties that have been excubated via life etc and keep being told need referal for crisis team and to call 111 option 2, and when call them get told again need referal for crisis team, get fed up as nobody seems to know who is doing what and ate giving patients the run around, unfair.

I was treated for bulimia with anorexic tendencies at the very start of 2018 to the middle of 2019. I was extremely ill, and i relied heavily relied on the treatment and staff here to get me better. The team got me to a point where I was stable and doing alot better, but still unwell. I was labelled 'uncooperative' because i refused to take antidepressants and was discharged because they believed there nothing more they could do to help me. I left with no support in place which really hurt. I ended up having to pay for my own private psychotherapist for the next year. I am so grateful for the treatment I received here and for the length of time/treatment was given, but at the same time I felt unheard and in the end 'unfixable'.. Improvements can definitely be made.

No consultant for a year in adult eating disorders service. Nursing staff are great but clearly stretched. Senior Leadership team poor

We cannot get hold of NSFT support staff when we most need it, My daughter is under Walker Close, she has psychotic episodes and disassociates and requires more support at times of crisis. We call 111 option 2 frequently and we also have the ambulance attend our home too at times, she also uses Suffolk Mind Night Owls who are good listeners and do care. We are very concerned that after a crisis we are told that someone from Walker Close will call us back in the morning to carry out an assessment and then we do not get a call, this is not right and is not professional or caring. We need more help at home to support our daughter when things escalate with her mental health issues and it is just not given. We feel that at the very least the CMHT should make contact following a mental health crisis to see how things are going, but we are left on our own. In addition the receptionist staff at Walker Close do need more training on how to handle calls from patients, my daughter phoned when in crisis recently to ask to talk with her Care Coordinator, when she asked if she could speak with her she was told "I dont know if she is in today," and then "what do you want"? this seems to be again an unprofessional appraoch and something that needs to be improved.

Discharged myself in 2015 after being told on my first visit to them (severely underweight and diagnosed with anorexia) I would have my driving license taken away if I did not eat. I recovered by myself, but only after getting so ill I gave myself a heart condition which is not fixable.

Referred to CEDs team by GP, SWB and psychologist on 3 separate occasions and still declined. Then the AAT team discharged me too because they were clear I needed the ED team. A complete farce. The message was received as ‘not sick enough yet’. Then left with no services to help me. I can see why people get sicker and commit suicide from these conditions and their lack of support. This was all after a hospitalisation for chest sepsis with a subsequent finding of phosphates level of just 0.3 as a direct result of starvation!

Two years ago, my learning disabled and autistic brother-in-law was admitted to Walker Close for assessment following a severe attack of neglected UTI, ironically acquired while awaiting discharge from West Suffolk hospital. The toxicity of the infection resulted in extremely challenging behaviour and a Section 28 to an out-of-county assessment centre close to Norwich. There he received no treatment or assessment and deteriorated rapidly. With the help of his community nurse we managed to get him transferred to Walker Close, where his improvement was immediate. We were very happy with the set-up of the two light, cheerful and homely bungalows, housing only four people each, which mirrored his own shared home in the community. We cannot fault the assessment process, which included numerous physical and psychiatric tests, plus monthly follow-up meetings for family, with carers, social services and medical staff. Unfortunately, his care company refused to allow him to return to his home so his stay at Walker Close was unnecessarily extended while we looked for similar accommodation elsewhere. However, he seemed happy there, the staff were excellent, very caring, trying to give him as normal a life as possible.
It will be a real loss to the community if Walker Close is closed down; people should not be forced to go out-of-county through lack of local facilities, certainly not the most vulnerable, who suffer most through being separated from their families and everything that is familiar. LD and autistic people respond better in a more homely environment, Walker Close effectively bridges the gap between home and hospital care.
Six mental health assessment beds for the whole county is simply not enough. How can it be cost effective to open a new facility when there is a perfectly good one already in operation and within the grounds of Ipswich Hospital, at one time apparently able to house a total of 16 adults in 4 bungalows, why not simply update it? Perhaps this needs a more flexible approach, day care as well as inpatient, or one or more bungalows set aside to house bed-blocking cases. Please think again, or at least put it to public consultation.

My daughter was being treated under the mental health team at Walker Close and was gradually improving. The team discharged her earlier than I felt was appropriate, with absolutey no support post-discharge. She has swiftly relapsed and I have contacted the team but I cannot get her re-admitted. I simply get told to call the crisis team - who also do not help. I have tried other avenues but with no success - I feel like I am on my own.

I'm currently seeing someone for therapy at walker close and I feel very comfortable talking to people here.