Experiences of people using community mental health services at Canada House
Download (PDF 7.14 MB)Summary of report content
In 2019 Healthwatch Medway undertook two Enter and View visits to Canada House which provides mental health services. They wanted to find out whether the service had improved since the last visit in 2018. They spoke to 35 people.
Most patients said they felt involved in their care whilst 6 said they did not. Patients said it was difficult to get through and speak to someone on the telephone. Over half the patients we spoke to had received a call back when they had rung and left a message.
Most patients said they had not been offered support to access other health services. Just under half of patients said that they would like to be offered this support. Over half the patients we spoke to said that they had not been offered information about other organisations or agencies that could support them however, 13 said that they had.
Only 50% of patients said they had a copy of their Care Plan. All the patients apart from one, knew who they should contact in a crisis and over half of the patients they spoke to said they had used the crisis service. Their experience of the crisis service was overwhelmingly negative with patients reporting that the service is “unhelpful” and “slow to react”.
The report reiterates the recommendations made in 2018 as it appeared none had been implemented.