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Rethink News – Our response to the BBC investigation into the Priory Group

Today (Wednesday April 26th) we respond to a BBC investigation which features claims from former senior managers at the Priory Group who shared concerns about the safety of patients and staff. This story follows the tragic loss of Beth Matthews and two other women, Deseree Fitzpatrick and Lauren Bridges, who died while inpatients at the Priory Group’s Cheadle Royal Hospital in Stockport.

Brian Dow, Deputy Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness and Chief Executive of Mental Health UK:

“We keep Beth Matthews’ loved ones in our thoughts today, alongside other families who have been let down by services that failed to keep their loved ones safe and provide the appropriate, dedicated support they needed.

“The BBC investigation into the delivery of services by the Priory Group raises important questions not just for the Priory Group but the wider environment in which services are delivered. The availability of a trained, committed workforce is the foundation on which appropriate and safe care that aids recovery is built. Everyone will appreciate that recruiting and retaining this skilled workforce comes at a cost and too often the consequence of this is a lack of focus on quality. If we want our sons, daughters, loved ones and friends to have the care they need and deserve we have to demand better. There can be no avoiding the reality that this requires the Government to adequately fund mental health services – both those in clinical settings and those in the community.

“In tandem, we need to reform the Mental Health Act to give people in crisis more say in their care and to address many of the systemic issues placing patient safety at risk, alongside a robust inspection system that hears the voices of people using services and holds all providers to the same high standards.

“The ongoing rapid review into mental health care is of critical importance. A statutory public inquiry could also act to address many of the systemic issues placing patient safety at risk, but every day waiting for the findings and recommendations of such an inquiry leaves people in inpatient mental health units at risk. We need more urgent action to push standards up.”

World Mental Health Day 2022 – Together’s Theme

World Mental Health Day takes place on 10 October and the theme for 2022, as set by the World Health Organisation, is ‘Make mental health & well-being for all a global priority’. We see this theme as focussing on increasing access to knowledge and support relating to mental health wherever possible globally and thought about how we could contribute.

We value lived experience as an organisation and our core principle being service user leadership. So, we thought we could help by inviting our staff, volunteers and people who use our services to share their knowledge and insight through tips that have worked for them in supporting their mental wellbeing. We hope this is a way we can help others by sharing the understanding people have gained from their own experiences and our overall question was:

We’ll share these through the day on Monday and hope they will be useful for others to read. As always each person’s experience is unique and so what works for one person to benefit their mental wellbeing may not be right for everyone but we hope by sharing lived experiences that will give people more options.

You can see all of the mental wellbeing tips shared by people from across Together below:





Bipolar News – Bipolar UK launches new Mood Tracker app

Created by a member of the Bipolar UK community, the charity has launched an expert-approved Mood Tracker app to record daily mood, medications, emotions and sleep.

Benefits:

App developer Andrew Thomas says:

When I was 50, I was diagnosed with bipolar type 2. The psychiatrist referred me to the Mood Scale on the Bipolar UK website and gave me some sheets to fill in to record my mood. I was annotating all over them and had the idea to create an app. I contacted Bipolar UK with a prototype and we worked on it together for over two years. I’m really proud of how it’s turned out. I hope it will help other people with bipolar in the same way that it’s helped me.

Download the Bipolar UK Mood Tracker app on a phone or tablet via the Apple Store or GooglePlay. It takes 10 minutes to set up and two minutes a day to fill in.

For more details and expert quotes, please contact Sarah Owen on 07759 232028 or at sowen@bipolaruk.org.

www.bipolaruk.org/track-your-mood
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Bipolar UK is the national charity in the UK dedicated to supporting individuals with bipolar, their families, friends and loved ones.

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