Seriously ill patients in mental health hospitals are being subjected to humiliation, abuse and prolonged isolation, a charity has warned.
Now it is feared a draft bill seeking to preserve the dignity of patients sectioned under the Mental Health Act could be abandoned in the King’s Speech tomorrow.
This would be a huge blow to those subjected to restrictive practices including rapid tranquillisation and long seclusions in small, bare rooms.
The importance of the Mental Health Bill is underlined in the harrowing case of Tiwa, now 21, who had her innocence stolen from the age of 16 in the name of mental health treatment and care.
Tiwa was sectioned as a teenager after multiple suicide attempts.
For 15 months she was shuffled between various hospitals and units, each one seemingly more flawed than the last, she told the Express.
To try to calm agitated patients, staff used a tactic called “seclusion” in which a patient would be left to lie on a crash mat on the floor, as a group of staff pinned them down, limb by limb, and then ran out of the room after counting down from 10.
Tiwa recounts one particular episode that left her traumatised.
She said: “I was left alone in seclusion, and I was so stressed, I bit into my arm for over an hour, so hard that I drew blood and ended up with an infection. This would never have happened if I wasn’t locked in a room by myself without constant monitoring. I should have never been treated like that in my state.”
She claimed that at times, especially when agency staff were involved, a lack of training and regard meant patients were injured while being restrained.
Those tasked with her care would often laugh and chat among themselves while pinning her down, ignoring her cries of pain.
She added: “I remember one night, when I had to be physically restrained, I heard one staff member bragging to another about having her first restraint the day before and how ‘cool’ it was. We weren’t treated with dignity or compassion at all.”
These horrors were not limited to one hospital unit or another, but permeated both children’s and adult units where Tiwa was treated.
Tiwa said she was “genuinely petrified” that her fellow in-patients were going to die at the hands of the staff who were caring for them.
Tiwa’s mental state only declined during her time as an in-patient – and her experience is reflected in research from Mind that has revealed mental health hospitals for children are making patients worse.
More than half of those treated in child mental health hospitals report negative experiences.
Tiwa’s transition to an adult unit upon turning 18 plunged her into an even darker abyss, which she says was “10 times worse” than the children’s units she had previous been in.
She said: “There was absolutely no regard for patients here at all. There is no structure on an adult unit, and they use sedatives multiple times a day.
“One day, whilst in the adult unit, I was given a sedative at 10am, at lunchtime and in the evening, despite it not in my medication plan. My whole time on that unit was pretty much a blur because I was so highly medicated.”
Carelessness, excessive use of drugs, and ill-equipped staff who could not manage racially abusive patients all contributed to her “hospital trauma”.
She said restrictive practices are still used as a first resort today.
The Care Quality Commission last year criticised the lack of progress made on reducing the use of restrictive practices against people with learning disabilities, autism, and mental ill health.
The watchdog warned: “Restrictive interventions continue and are often used inappropriately when people communicate their distress and unmet needs. There are more people in long-term segregation now than there were in 2019.”
Dr Sarah Hughes, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, told the Daily Express: “The long overdue Mental Health Bill will finally strengthen the rights of people who are sectioned under the Mental Health Act – which is why the UK government must introduce the Bill in the King’s Speech on Tuesday.
“The government committed to these reforms in both 2017 and 2019, and they are widely supported by all of the main political parties.
“Abandoning this Bill would be a huge blow both for the 50,000 people who were held against their will for treatment in the last year, and also their loved ones and the countless professionals who have dedicated time and effort into these reforms.”
Mind says its findings, paired with Tiwa’s heart-wrenching story, should “stop the government in its tracks”.
Dr Hughes added: “As Tiwa’s appalling experiences show us, the Act in its current form is enabling systemic racist treatment of Black patients, who are four times more likely to be detained.
“We urge the Prime Minister to take his final chance before the next General Election to deliver a fairer and safer Mental Health Act.”
