MENTAL health care bosses have apologised for drinking alcohol at a 20-strong sleepover in which they trialled a new Chelmsford ward.
Managers have described the inclusion of alcohol on the night at Edward House in Puddings Wood Drive, five days before its 20 patients moved in, as “unwise” and a “mistake”.
North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust area medical director Dr Gbola Otun, Edward House manager Ian Carr and area director Jo Paul also revealed plans to simplify a “complicated” referral system for mid Essex, merging its two home treatment teams into one body.
The apology and the change in its systems follows failures in the run-up to a Chelmsford mother’s suicide and an onslaught of anonymous letters to the Chronicle condemning the sleepover.
“On reflection, the taking of alcohol into the unit was unwise and I think we probably need to apologise for that if we caused offence,” said registered nurse Ms Paul, 44, who replaced the outgoing Lorraine Bush in January.
“But it was not a drunken party. There was a genuine well-meant purpose to this. We have all got busy lives and the vast majority of my staff, clinical and managerial, work incredibly hard and go the extra mile. Some work way beyond their contracted hours and this was a well-meant example of that.”
Off-duty staff, including NEPFT chief executive Andrew Geldard, slept over at the £5 million unit, near the Linden Centre, on August 1 to identify any potential faults.
Mr Carr, who says he had less than one glass of red wine and Ms Paul, who says she had two glasses, said they found timing for the automatic bathroom lights was too long, while Ms Paul discovered a non-flushing toilet and a broken shower.
The Chronicle was inundated with letters, mainly from people claiming to be NHS staff, outraged at the sleepover in which they described bosses as being drunk.
Yet the managers, who say they cannot remember who brought the drink, believe this was the first sleepover involving alcohol.
“It was a mistake, it’s as simple as that. With hindsight we shouldn’t have done it. Yet the claims in letters are well over exaggerated,” added associate director of communications Mike Waddington.
“Partially you have a bit of a celebration when opening a new centre. It’s a bit like wetting the baby’s head. They still use alcohol to launch ships so I can understand why people slip into it, and this was a slip.”
In the same interview the trio announced plans to merge its community mental health team (CMHT) and crisis resolution and home treatment team (CRHT) into one body by April 2 next year.
As NHS England aim to make £20 billion in efficiency savings by 2015, the trust will fund the reshuffle by re-investing personal funds, raised predominantly from selling now-redundant buildings.
“We are looking at a single point of access so that referrers don’t have to try and navigate what they feel is a difficult, disjointed system of lots of teams,” said County Durham-born Ms Paul.
The trio refused to say if the new system could have saved Mandy Peck’s life.
On February 20, the 39-year-old walked from her parents’ Melbourne home in her pyjamas to a city centre multi-storey car park where she jumped to her death.
In the two days previous both a CMHT and CRHT nurse visited Mandy, who had tried to electrocute herself in the bath a day earlier, and recommended she was admitted to the Linden Centre.
The Galleywood ward turned both requests down saying there was no space, but a later investigation revealed one bed had been available.
Three months previously, 20-year-old Matthew Leahy who was found hanging in the Galleywood ward.
Ms Paul said an investigation into his death was completed by February and said it was inappropriate to comment further while awaiting an inquest.
She did however add: “It’s distressing whenever this happens and for staff who witness incidents or who have to deal with aggrieved families in a distressed state.
“Most of us come into care to improve lives and to save lives, so any loss of life is regrettable.”
The trust has also increased permanent staff numbers, revamped nurses’ offices and introduced a drop-box for anonymous staff concerns following a May 2012 CQC report, which said the Linden Centre was non-compliant in its care and welfare of people.
“I think we had an ambitious plan covering everything we did and every aspect for the patients, from the food they eat to how much care they get,” said Dr Otun.
“What Jo did when she came in was look for reasonably quick changes we could achieve and that worked well, such as improving the environment.
“Many patients come to hospital and leave their families behind for the first time so it’s important to replicate that home environment.”
The trust, which boasts a 446-strong team serving a population size of 365,000, treats 20,000 patients at any one time.
Since 2010 the amount of patients referred to the trust from GPs has also increased by 50 per cent to 4,500 annually.
Mr Carr added: “Every day people and families are recovering from mental health, from terrible difficulties and terrible situations.”
Read more at http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/taking-alcohol-unit-unwise-sorry/story-20078729-detail/story.html#W0pos1yM2UAvCVzS.9
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