[nursebedlam]

Mental hospital patients 'in fear'

John Carvel, social affairs editor
Tuesday September 7, 2004
The Guardian

Over half the patients in psychiatric hospitals were threatened during their stay and 20% were physically assaulted, the mental health charity Mind reports today after a survey of conditions on the wards.


It found that 51% of recent or current inpatients said they had been verbally or physically threatened, 18% were sexually harassed and 5% were sexually assaulted.

The charity said it was particularly concerned that 23% of patients were accommodated on mixed sex wards, which the government had promised to abolish by 2002.

Patients with access to single-sex bathrooms and daytime facilities consistently felt safer and were more likely to feel that the hospital environment helped their recovery than those without.

The charity said: "We found a climate of fear on many wards, with patients exposed to harassment, abuse and un-therapeutic conditions, exacerbated by overworked staff, often from agencies, who can sometimes treat patients with a lack of dignity and respect."

The charity's report comes as the government prepares to publish a draft mental health bill tomorrow. Its main purpose is to introduce powers for the compulsory treatment in the community of patients who might pose a risk to others, but are not ill enough to be sectioned.

More than half said the hospital surroundings did not help their recovery. A third thought they had made their health worse. Only one in five thought they were treated with respect by hospital staff. Richard Brook, the charity's chief executive, said: "Ward Watch paints a picture of two extremes in the NHS: examples of excellent practice experienced by some, contrasted sharply with the pitiful conditions that others endured."



The Department of Health said that it appreciated the concerns, but could not accept the validity of findings based on a sample of 4% of patients.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/st...298534,00.html