Patients rely on charities for new clothes as trusts ‘shirk obligations’

    People with mental health problems who spend a long time in
    hospital receiving treatment are being denied suitable clothing by
    mental health trusts.

    Many patients have to rely on the hospital to provide their clothes
    as they are unable to afford them. Under current legislation,
    people who stay in hospital for more than a year automatically have
    their benefits cut to £15.50 a week, which is to cover all
    necessities from haircuts to transport for home visits.

    Mental health charity Mind has received a letter from a social
    worker asking for a clothing grant of around £150 so that his
    client can buy some new clothes.

    The client, who is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, has been
    detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 since 1972, but the aim
    is to move him on to a high support hostel in his home area.
    However, the man only has a few clothes that are old and need
    replacing.

    The social worker, who did not want to be named, said that funds
    for clothing were not made available by his trust. To combat this,
    he has been forced to come up with “creative solutions” in order to
    meet clients’ clothing needs, using the Social Fund and voluntary
    groups.

    Richard Brook, chief executive of Mind, said that the refusal of
    mental health trusts to honour their obligation under the National
    Service Framework for Mental Health to provide essential clothing
    was widespread, and called on the government to remind them they
    cannot “shirk their responsibilities”.

    “In a supposedly civilised society, we shouldn’t be seeing people
    with mental health problems kept so far below the poverty line and
    deprived of their self-esteem,” he said.

    Last month, health minister Rosie Winterton said that the NSF made
    it clear that trusts should ensure arrangements were in place to
    bring about “good standards of privacy and dignity for hospital
    patients”.

    In a written answer to the House of Commons, she added that the
    care programme approach required patients’ health and social care
    needs to be fully addressed in their care plans, which should be
    regularly reviewed, particularly upon discharge from hospital.

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