I'm the type of person who's more than willing to rant and rave about political ideals, but I very rarely resort to begging. Today I'm going to do the latter because today's focus on the Tories funding mental health staff is really bothering me. I'm going to be honest, which some might not like, but as we're told so ofter that it's ok to say we're not ok, here goes...
I beg you, if you care for your friends and family who suffer from mental health conditions, do not vote Conservative. They are trying to buy votes by preying on the vulnerable while masking seven years of damage done to mental health services and NHS funding provision.
In the last seven years, funding to mental health services has been cut.
The number of mental health patients waiting to be seen has risen.
Poverty has increased (see food banks) which also increases cases of poor mental health.
Doctors are being squeezed, yet it is those doctors who need to be able to asses a patient and refer them to appropriate mental health services. A&E staff deal with suicide attempts. They refer people to specialist services. Yet they are under funded and over worked.
Thirteen months ago, I attempted suicide. Thirteen months on from that attempt, and several crisis calls later, I am STILL on the waiting list for the treatment I need.
Thirteen months, and counting.
So far I've been given no estimate for when I'll receive treatment.
A mental health nurse rings every four weeks to see if I still want to be on the waiting list...
What other long term, chronic, and life threatening conditions lead to patients being repeatedly asked if they still want help? In what other field of medicine is it normal to just not treat patients in the hope some of them will go away and shorten the waiting list?
When I first had my assessment appointment before going on the waiting list, the nurse told me that they were severely understaffed, that he couldn't tell me when I'd be assigned a nurse and that there wouldn't be doctors available for medication reviews as they were too short staffed. He also told me that mental health patients are colour coded. Amber is 'needs help'. Red is 'really needs help/at high risk'. I was told that I was amber and only through being red would I be seen quicker. They deem me mber, despite already having attempted suicide, because the only way to be deemed red seems to be actively planning suicide at the moment they speak to you.
What other illness is ignored until you are at imminent life-threatening risk rather than treating it to stop it getting that far?
We are told that its ok to say we're not ok, but when we say it, we become a statistic, a number on a waiting list waiting to be lucky enough to be seen or unlucky enough to die in the meantime. Our lives stop. We lose jobs. We are treated like second class citizens. Our struggle is made worse by the struggle to survive until the very act of saying we're not ok becomes as pointless as everything else seems to be.
People have a range of mental health issues, I can only speak of mine, but every condition suffers from a lack of funding and staffing worsened by Tory austerity, so I'm begging you, do not be fooled by current pledges. Don't let the Tories buy votes through preying on the vulnerable. The Tories will not protect mental health services, at most they'll mix up the mess they've created through years of under-funding and mismanagement. They won't protect the NHS.
So for every child who suffers a mental health problem and needs help before it ruins their adult life...
For every mother suffering post-partum depression...
For every person with anxiety, depression, bi-polar, ocd, phobias, personality disorders, or other psychiatric conditions that impact on every day life...
And for every person who feels there's no hope of help...
Do not vote Conservative.
Pseudonymous Zombie
xxx
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