Woodlands NHS Mental Health Unit - Patients Council

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The closure of Woodlands

I thought I should make a comment on the closure of Woodlands:

Woodlands was not perfect and there were some design flaws (daft for a purpose built unit!), but it seems so stupid to close the whole place. Why not fix a few rooms at a time, keeping the place open for the local people who need it. Change any members of staff that are not doing their jobs correctly. There is a chance it will reopen in three months, we will have to wait and see. As part of the Patients Council I have heard a lot of complaints over the years, but also a lot of compliments. Like anywhere there were some very crap staff at Woodlands, but there were many great ones too. One thing I have asked many service users about while they are in there is how it compares to other units and at least 90% of people said it was better than anywhere else they had been. I do think there should be staff changes, there are a couple of people that were always so liked, gave so much support to the patients and really did seem to care about them, but they got moved to other places. As a service user myself I would still choose Woodlands over any of the other units that the local patients are now being sent to 8o( Dean

The Woodlands Patients Council was set up at the Woodlands Mental Health Unit in Hastings back in 2000 to give the users of the acute mental health ward a voice. The Woodlands Patients Council is made up of past and current mental health service users, the do not have to have used Woodlands, just have been a user of mental health services (NHS or private) at some time. On the second and fourth Friday of each month two or three of the members (on a voluntary basis) attend the ward and informally collect views of the current service users.

The Woodlands Patients Council do not deal with personal mental health / care issues, only general ones that effect all users of Woodlands. Things like the quality of food, general conduct of the staff, decoration of the unit and other things that effect the quality of life for patients / service users are the sort of things we deal with. If people do come to us with personal issues such as medication, complaints about staff, need for advocacy services etc. then we do signpost them on to local charities, mental health organisations and service user groups in the Hastings area who can help them. We are working in association with the NHS, not working for the NHS, this means we can be objective and independent and always put the services users needs first.

The people from the Woodlands Patients Council who do the rounds often stay for lunch on the unit to test the quality of food (for NHS hospital food its normally quite nice!). After lunch we meet up with the whole of the Woodlands Patients Council to discuss the current and ongoing issues and decide on any appropriate action to help resolve the issues. There is a suggestion box where anybody can leave us messages in between our fortnightly meetings and all suggestion get read out and any of the service users in Woodlands may attend the meeting and either bring up their own issues or just see how we deal with issues raised by other service users.

The Woodlands Patients Council has a very good working relationship with the local NHS Trust. At all our meetings we have a member of the NHS staff from Woodlands, normally Gail or Dave, so we can feed problems back to them straight away. We also invite other staff to meetings from time to time to discuss ongoing issues with food, housekeeping etc. that service users have reported to us. Many positive changes have been made as a result of the Council's input to Woodlands and I think we have made a big difference to the quality of life of people in Woodlands. It is still not perfect, but with the Woodlands Patients Council and the NHS working together we are trying out best.

Contact Focus or Woodlands for more information.

Su Barnicoat.
Woodlands Patients Council,
Focus on Mental Health,
6 Trinity Street,
Hastings,
East Sussex,
TN38 1HG,
01424 442435.

What is Woodlands?

If you are so ill that you have to stay in hospital, Woodlands adult mental health unit, offers somewhere bright, pleasant and safe, with private rooms, modern facilities and dedicated professional help to get you well again. It opened in 1999. The unit contains 33 patient rooms all with en-suite facilities, communal and recreational areas, therapy rooms and office accommodation.

There is a choice of menu and special diets are catered for. There is a public pay telephone available for patients' use; a postbox, daily newspapers and books are available. A computer is provided for patient use during weekdays. Local shops are within walking distance. A chaplain visits regularly and your own pastor is welcome if you wish.

"At Woodlands we provide patient-centred care which is individual, comprehensive and continuous for people aged between 16 and 65 years who are experiencing an episode of acute mental ill health and cannot be treated in their own home environment. Care is delivered in a safe, secure and therapeutic environment. We believe that everyone admitted to Woodlands is entitled to high quality service, and treated with respect, dignity and as equal human beings. We also believe in the on-going development of best practice."

When you are at Woodlands a team of trained staff will look after you and be responsible for your treatment. The team includes doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, psychologists and social workers.

For more information please contact:

Woodlands Mental Health Unit,
Conquest Hospital,
The Ridge,
Hastings,
East Sussex,
TN37 7RD.
01424 755255.
Patients telephone: 01424 755255, ext. 2522.
Fax: 01424 445755