Mental Health - Rights To Care Help

[Jimbob1208]

Hi,

I am looking for any advice or guidance on where my dad might stand with regards to what I believe was unsatisfactory care for him whilst in hospital.

My Dad suffers from severe depression and has been in and out of psychiatric wards for the past 13 years and has been sectioned under the MHA in the past.

This year we had to call a doctor to him because of a significant decline in his mental health and he was eventually admitted to hospital.

However, there was no space on the psychiatric mental health ward and consequently he had to stay on a coronary care ward for almost two weeks.

He was then moved to a dementia ward as doctors felt it was the best of a bad choice as there were still no beds on the psychiatric ward. He remained on a secure dementia ward for about another two weeks and eventually moved on to a mental health psychiatric ward where he stayed for about two months until being discharged.

I feel that because my Dad was not provided with a bed on the necessary and most appropriate ward he was;

• deprived of the necessary mental health treatment and intervention
  
• appropriate and necessary treatment and care was delayed
  
• the start of a new course of medication was delayed
  
• he was neglected whilst on the initial coronary care ward as staff were not skilled, trained or experienced to meet his needs and he was left in a psychotic state in his own bed with little interaction or intervention
  
• he was inadvertently subjected to degrading experience by having to be seen in the state he was in by other patients who were not mentally ill.
  

I am curious to know if there is any case for recourse, particularly with reference to the European Courts of Human Rights?

Also, to add insult to injury, having been discharged my Dad took a turn for the worst and his mental health declined again, to such an extent that his Community Mental Health Care Team felt it necessary to raise their concerns with us (his family) but would not re-admit him to hospital and consequently we had to pay privately for him to go in to a residential care home for rest bite.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks

[catsmother21]

Hi

PALS might be a good place to start and here is their website:

http://www.pals.nhs.uk/

I am sorry that you're father has been treated so badly and wish you luck with this.