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  • Guardianship - or a journey into Section 7 of the Mental Health Act

    I was called into one of the CMHT (Community Mental Health Team) meetings last week. It was a bit of a surprise. We don’t tend to go into other peoples’ meetings. It is almost like entering an alternate universe. People have the same roles and even tend to sit in the same places around the...
    Posted to Fighting Monsters (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-01-2008
  • Delayed Discharges

    Since moving from a generic Community Care team into a specialist Mental Health team a few years ago, I haven’t had as much contact with the vagaries of the delayed discharge system as I did back then. Yesterday was a rude (in every sense of the word) awakening. The Community Care (Delayed Discharge...
    Posted to Fighting Monsters (Weblog) by Anonymous on 08-27-2008
  • Active Care? Another tale of Southern Cross

    I write a few months ago about the difficulties faced by Southern Cross Healthcare but a quick recap a) They are the largest private operator of residential and nursing care in the UK b) Big financial problems c) Some disparate concerns about quality of care and treatment of staff in homes that they...
    Posted to Fighting Monsters (Weblog) by Anonymous on 08-16-2008
  • The Missing Umbrella

    A few days ago there was some very heavy rain here. For 99% of the time I don’t bother with umbrellas. Showers are more common than full-on continuous rainfall through the day. I’m very good at leaving umbrellas places as well. Usually in people’s houses - but also on buses, trains...
    Posted to Fighting Monsters (Weblog) by Anonymous on 08-15-2008
  • .. I shall wear purple

    The BBC reported yesterday about a Care Home, Woodland House in St Austell, Cornwall that has a wonderful sounding ‘Make a Wish’ initiative. Residents of the home are asked about dreams and goals for the future and in a worthy endeavour the home seeks to carry them out. So… A 90-year...
    Posted to Fighting Monsters (Weblog) by Anonymous on 08-09-2008
  • Hypochondria

    Currently a couple of people that I am working with who have anxiety and depression are suffering from a form of hypochondria. And truly, it is as painful as a mental disorder as any physical manifestation of an illness could be. The word that is over-used to some extent  and has developed a pejorative...
    Posted to Fighting Monsters (Weblog) by Anonymous on 08-05-2008
  • Reviewing IMCAs

    Yesterday the First Annual Report of the Independent Mental Capacity Advocate (IMCA)  was published. I have had some experiences of using IMCAs over the last 18 months but with increasing frequency and it’s probably the same for most of my colleagues within the service I currently work in...
    Posted to Fighting Monsters (Weblog) by Anonymous on 07-25-2008
  • Looking at gift horses

    There’s one couple that I’ve been seeing quite a lot of over the past few weeks. He has dementia and his wife has depression. They have been co-dependent for many years - and probably would have continued to be until she became physically unwell quite suddenly which led to an intentional...
    Posted to Fighting Monsters (Weblog) by Anonymous on 07-23-2008
  • Coincidence

    Earlier in the week, I popped in to see someone that I hadn’t seen for a couple of weeks. I had intended it to be a fairly quick visit. Things had been stable and I was in the area so just wanted to check and show my face - just in case. I’d phoned the [...]
    Posted to Fighting Monsters (Weblog) by Anonymous on 07-18-2008
  • Little Steps

    Yesterday, I had another run-in with the Housing Department but at least it was resolved. It tends to  happen every so often and its usually over the same issues. This time it was about access - which is probably the most common reason that we have these interactions. Mrs A lives alone in a block...
    Posted to Fighting Monsters (Weblog) by Anonymous on 07-08-2008
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