Recently in service users Category

by Denise Platt

Log onto the website of the General Medical Council (GMC). Pretty quickly you will read that "we protect patients by dealing firmly and fairly with serious concerns about doctors". The General Teaching Council says: "We work for children through teachers". Now look at the General Social Care Council website - you'll be hard pushed to find the words "protect the public" or any mention of people who use services on its home page or "about us" section.

by Simon Stevens

Last week I had my first proper outcome-based "review" now that I have reached my "maximum rehab potential" since the start of my Guillain Barré syndrome in January. I have always been nervous of reviews and I imagaine social workers can also be nervous when they have to work with a well known, empowered and rather vocal service user. With 17 years' experience behind me, I feel that the balance of power has started to shift in my favour.

by Peter Beresford, service user and professor of social policy at Brunel University

When we write as service users, mostly what are trying to do, is set things out from our points of view and lived experience, to try and gain understanding and make life better for people with similar experiences. I think that is true whatever kind of service user we are, what movement we are part of - disabled people's, older people's, or mental health service users'/survivors' movement.

by Nigel Leaney

Throughout history and across the world people have lived, and been willing to die, for their beliefs. Our belief systems form our values and our self-identity - what it is to be me. They are precious. Not many of us would like to be told that our view of the world is fundamentally wrong. So to treat people's beliefs as a symptom of an illness - delusions - to be eradicated by medication can cause a loss of self-esteem and disempowerment.

by Kaarina Elisabeth
 
Harriet Harman believes that unless women are guaranteed positions in government, we won't get good government. She advocates positive discrimination, already employed for race and gender by various bodies. And it can be a good thing. It makes groups feel their views are represented.

Jennifer Harvey reflects on how living in the community with a mental health problem can see people isolated and shunned

You wouldn't want to be John. Living alone in a run-down council flat, up a steep hill from the bus stop, a laborious 10-minute challenge to his arthritic knees.
There's never a friendly word from a neighbour. They either hammer on the door and complain at his screams of anguish and frustration, or they're so scared they keep well out of the way and call the housing department.

by Simon Heng

Last year, my 76-year-old mother was failing. She could barely walk; she was having difficulty in looking after herself physically, and was becoming confused. She certainly couldn't drive.

In April of this year, she had a triple heart bypass. For a few weeks, she was extremely ill, and we worried - she worried, most of all - that she would never be independent again. When she left hospital, she went to a rehabilitation unit for older people, a joint venture between the primary care trust and the local authority.

  by Peter Beresford

Travel broadens the mind, but it's often more difficult for service users. There's an obvious reason for many people - they don't have enough money to get about much. Some are also restricted by failures to ensure access. The horror stories I have heard from disabled people, particularly wheelchair users, particularly about air travel, beggar belief. My problem is a slightly different one. One of the big difficulties that has been associated with my experience of mental health services has been agoraphobia - fear of open spaces - or as it was for me quite simply fear of going out. This has got better, but travel is still a worry and I can't cope with flying. This of course restricts the amount I can travel any great distance and means that I have to use land and sea rather than air - which means much more time. I am hoping though that things will get better as everyone gets more aware of the need to reduce their carbon footprint and effective alternatives to air travel are made easier to access.