Share review of The Whiteleaf Centre

The Whiteleaf Centre 2019-11-12 Person 3 5 0

There are a number of positives and negatives to my experience at whiteleaf. Positives are that there are a number of key staff who are absolutely exceptional in the manner in which they dealt with me and other patients. These key individuals were, Michaela, Lucy and Okey. These 3 members of staff deserve a huge amount of recognition for the effort, compassion, and ability to deal with varying levels of patients. The facilities are great, food was brilliant and the overall level of staff was good. However, there are a few negatives to my experience here. I strongly do not believe that my mental health condition was investigated into detail. I totally understand that the nurses and doctors are busy, however no one actually spent the time required to sit down with me to listen and understand what I am going through. I had to instigate this myself on several occasions and the conversations seemed to be purely one way from me to the nurses. Whereas, the process should actually be a two way street where both parties have time to discuss the mental health issues, and discuss how both mentally and emotionally these could be dealt with. My time here was almost as though I was here just to sleep, eat and socialise. I do not believe my time here was well spent, as I have not gained anything mentally or emotionally to fix the issues in hand. This was rather frustrating as I strongly believed that the reason I was here was for you guys to help me deal with these issues. There needs to be a huge improvement in the manner in which nurses and doctors “talk” to patients both ways to come up with amicable agreements in which issues can be rectified. Not purely a place just to sleep, eat and socialise. I understand that some people may believe this place is for restbite. However, I disagree. I’m not happy at all that my actual mental health issues have actually not been investigated into. Almost as though you guys have assumed that as I am well spoken and well dressed, from the outside I seem to be fine. Whereas, inside mentally, I have a number of issues that you have not investigated into. Other issues are that certain patients that are here need to be escalated into Psychological Quarantine as a matter of urgency before hurt. These patients seem to be overlooked and these certain patients are a danger to themselves as well we others here. Another issue is that certain night staff seem to be sleeping on the job. I have personally witnessed on a number of occasions that night staff are deep asleep in the office with no regard to what is happening elsewhere in the building. This is not acceptable. Other issues are that the halal food option is diabolical and needs to be changed. Overall, my experience has been “average”, however I am grateful for Michaela who has attempted to deal with my housing issue. Please note, I will be formally writing to the trust to detail my experience and the number of key issues which exist.