Wedgwood House

My daughter arrived at Wedgwood House in April and was discharged May. She has previously been an inpatient on a CAHMs ward for the previous 10 months.

Psychiatrists: 3 days after her arrival on the ward the psychiatrist took her off the medication that her previous unit had spent months of hard work trying to encourage her to take. He was of the opinion (after only 3 days) that the diagnosis of bipolar was incorrect. It would not be possible to know this after 3 days on his ward.

There is no relationship between the psychiatric team and the patient. My daughter never had a 1-1 meeting with any of the psychiatrists at Wedgwood. It is not possible to treat a patient that you have no relationship with. On the two ward rounds that I was present at it was clear from a mix up with note both Dr (name removed) and Dr (name removed) had no idea who my daughter was.

I don't believe Wedgwood is fit for purpose. It looks more like a holding tank. It does not aim to improve the mental state of it's patients. At best it might stabliise people and then discharge them to repeat the process again. There is no treatment, no therapy and no psychologist on the ward. Certainly, we never saw one.

Communication: When my daughter arrived at Wedgwood she had been on 1-1 observations for the previous few months because her risks were high. She had also not been in our care since July 2018. Since becoming an inpatient her behaviours had changed. She learnt to ligature and head bang. 2 things of which we had no experience. At the end of one ward round we were told that she was now on a weeks leave. This was without any discussion. The net result was that my daughter became upset on leave and started to head bang. We had never seen this before and tried to stop her. The situation escalated and we had no idea how to deal with it. She was distressed, screaming, shouting, kicking and being violent (something completely new in our experience). We called the ward and asked for help. They asked us if we had PRN (something which had not been offered to us or even mentioned). Eventually, after more than a couple of very distressing hours for all of us (and our neighbours) we had to call an ambulance to take her back to the ward. We called the ward the following morning to try to find out how to avoid ever having to deal with a situation like that again. At this point we spoke to a wonderful staff member who told us all about 'safe self harm'. Surely, this is something that would have been obvious to explain to a family taking their daughter home for a week after being hospitalised for nearly a year.

Ward Rounds: These are intimidating and unfriendly. The room is set up in a way that created a barrier (I'm sure it's unintentional) between the staff and the patient. In the past ward rounds were positive discussions between my daughter and her psychiatrist who got to know her and took her feelings and wishes into consideration. At Wedgwood I understood why my daughter hated ward rounds and wouldn't engage and I watched her shrink into herself. It felt like everything was being done to her. It was also very difficult to hold any conversation with Dr (name removed). After the final ward round when our daughter was discharged we had to actually ask if she had been discharged because it was not made clear.

Staff avoidance: Too many times when I have been on the ward I have witnessed staff ignoring the patients standing outside the office waiting for assistance. I appreciate that there will be many times that patients are being demanding and might be making a nuisance of themselves but there are also plenty of times when they are just being ignored. It can't be good for the self esteem of the patients to actively watch the people that are supposed to care for them ignore them. I have had to wait myself on many occasions when staff in the office studiously avoid making eye contact with me in the hope that someone else will have to get up and take me off the ward.

Although our experience of the Wedgwood has been overwhelmingly negative there are a few members of staff (mental health nurses and health care workers who offer outstanding care in a system that is completely broken. There professionalism in the face of their situation awes me.

Patient requested their prescribed medication that was due and was given it, later requested their PRN sleeping tablet, but was told that it had been given with the other medication.
If that is the case the PRN was issued to the patient without it being requested. The patient then asked for them to count the tablets and check it against the MAR charts, but was informed this was not practical as the box is shared between those on the unit - so they are unable to reliably monitor individuals medication.
Some of the staff are excellent, and the OTs are great.

Some staff are brilliant but checks are not made when they are supposed to be, Consultant does not listen at all and would discharge when a patient is unstable if left unchallenged!

Ongoing support/after care of client.
The support and aftercare we as a team and a client who spent time in the Wedgwood have received has been outstanding. A trained clinician psychologist has worked do closely with us and the client, ensuring she offers us the most thorough advicie. The client has formed a really close bond and the benefits from his time spent working with his psychologist have been invaluable.. We have also benefited from a clinical discussion with the same psychologist for all of our staff to pay a part.

I was even approached and told he would come back to speak to me and spend time with me later on one occassion in which he never did. It is definitely a case of those who 'shout the loudest' get the most time and attention
Often short staffed.

Evening meal seems to be 5.30 and breakfast then supposed to be 8 or 8.30 but apparently becoming later. Also there is supposed to be a trolley with tea available from 0600 but this is reportedly not being replenished. Inpatient (friend) reports poor staff attitude.

I had to wait 45 minutes for a 10 minute appointment

My consultant was very reassuring-very approachable and understanding. It was an excellent consultation. There was a 15 minute delay but I consider that to be acceptable.