I'm currently inpatient. I have escorted leave 6-8 hours a day.
Today at 11am I asked if staff could take me into town, the nurse said she could facilitate an hour. I agreed. At 1pm I asked again and was told staff were currently taking their breaks. At 3:15pm I said to staff that the shops would be closing soon and was informed that they couldn't facilitate taking me out today. This left me feeling angry and upset as I had waited all day.
I noticed a member of staff taking another patient out but didn't think anything of it. Later, the nurse came to speak to me and I said I was pissed off. She said to me that she had asked the same member of staff who took another patient out to take me but he had refused. This made me even more angry and upset. Why should staff be able to pick and choose which patients they take out. Total discrimination. All my life I've struggled to fit in and I didn't expect to come to a psychiatric ward and be the odd one out/treated differently.
That sounds frustrating. Maybe it would be possible to check out with him why he refused? Perhaps he was concerned about your level of risk. Obviously, if you have been given escorted leave it means your psychiatrist deems this to be appropriate, so it should be made possible as long as there are enough staff to facilitate it, but that particular member of staff might have had concerns and, if that was the case, was possibly right in not being the one to take you out. As I said, though, that's just second-guessing and you'd really have to ask the staff. I am sorry you're feeling like you're being treated as the odd-one-out, that sounds horrible.
His reply was he didn't feel comfortable taking me out.
What was the reason for this? I cannot understand why he felt this way. And it was highly unprofessional of him. That is discrimination and you can report that.
PM me if you want a PDF copy of the ICD-10or the Mental Health Act 1983/2007. I ALSO HAVE THE DSM-V BOOK and am a pharmacology student.
I have a visual impairment / neurological problems so I need people to type in clear text and no funny fonts. Also excuse any typos, my vision blocks things out.
I have autism and have problems communicating, PMs included.
Just becasue I type well doesn't mean I speak well. I am only part time verbal.
His reply was he didn't feel comfortable taking me out.
I am gonna go against the norm here and say I can see where he may be coming from.
I don't know you obviously. But I used to work at Alpha in Woking and there werre certain patients I was terrified to be alone with (although thankfully I never got asked to do leave). Again I don't know you but I know this can be upsetting for you, and I'm sorry if this reply upsets yu. I just wanted to explain what the staff worker's point of view might have been. Although another member of staff should have been freed up for you, depending on staffing issues.
What hospital are you in by the way? I used to live in Guildford, is it Farnham Road? I used to go to therapy there.
"John, being brave is going where no man has gone before and with Lizzy Stark, that is NOT what you'll be doing!" - Aunt Polly.
“I told him I was going to betray you, and betray Lyra, and he believed me because I was corrupt and full of wickedness; he looked so deep I felt sure he'd see the truth. But I lied too well. I was lying with every nerve and fiber and everything I'd ever done...I wanted him to find no good in me, and he didn't. There is none.”
^^good point, though that should not be a reason at all!
It can be quite a valid reason. I know when I was in hospital the majority of the time they didn't feel it would be a good idea for me to be on escorted leave with a male as some of my issues had been caused my males in the past, and therefore it would put the nurse in a difficult position if I were to become upset etc. Obviously I'm just speculating because I don't know if that is the reason at all, just a possibility.
If it was the case though, it's a shame they couldn't see if there was a female to take you out lovely. I know how hard it is when you are in hospital on a section, have leave but can't go out. I was in over summer & autumn and due to staff shortages I didn't go out for three months.
I know how upsetting it is to wait for escorted leave only to be let down. A lot of the staff don't realise how important leave is.
It's unfortunate what happened, but the nurses do have a right to refuse patients' requests of escorted leave. It doesn't matter if the psychiatrist has said you're allowed escorted leave, if the nurses think there's any reason why it wouldn't be wise to take you out then they can refuse.
It would be helpful for the nurse to explain why he didn't feel comfortable taking you out, but if his answer will distress you then it's for the best that he does not disclose it at this moment in time.
Patients' risk fluctuates daily. I remember when I was IP there were many patients who 90% of the time were fine to go out and behaved perfectly, but sometimes they would be quite unstable on the ward and exhibiting certain behaviours that was clear to everyone else that they would be shortly going in to a crisis. Or "kicking off". Yet they would still ask for their leave and be adamant that they were fine.
The other annoying thing is the staffing levels. I've had leave cancelled so many times because of short staffing. I even had my home leave cancelled so the nurse who supposed to be escorting me could escort other patients on a trip into town instead! So sometimes there isn't much rhyme or reason and it is very frustrating.
Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back, everything is different…
you once called your brain a hard drive, well say hello to the virus.
The other patient that he took out was female and informal so technically didn't need to be escorted anyway.
Lady G...Yes it is Farnham Road. Not for much longer though as it's being knocked down and all patients will be transferred to ACU in Chertsey.
Surely if I was that dangerous I wouldn't have been granted escorted leave in the first place.
Omg is it :O :O No way!
And I didn't mean to imply you were dangerous - the girl I was so scared of was not dangerous at all. I'm sorry you are left in limbo about why he refused.
"John, being brave is going where no man has gone before and with Lizzy Stark, that is NOT what you'll be doing!" - Aunt Polly.
“I told him I was going to betray you, and betray Lyra, and he believed me because I was corrupt and full of wickedness; he looked so deep I felt sure he'd see the truth. But I lied too well. I was lying with every nerve and fiber and everything I'd ever done...I wanted him to find no good in me, and he didn't. There is none.”
