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‘I support mental health hospitals to protect community safety’

Nov 20, 2018

Community safety should be the number one priority when dealing with offenders who have mental health issues. Source: Shutterstock

When I was nearly 18, I applied for a position as a student nurse at what was then called a mental hospital. I suppose that has a rather ancient ring to it. It was 1957 though, so times were very different. I was delighted when I was accepted. I took to my duties with enthusiasm; passed part one of the first exams easily and was expecting to do my three years. The course consisted of a year or so of general nursing then finishing with a diploma if I was diligent. The rest of the course would be dealing with mental health issues.

We had two distinct lots of patients. Those in the dark and dreary Victorian section of the building had been long-term patients, with such frailty they were bed bound. I hated that section and yet worked in it often. I would arrive in the dark kitchen at 6:30am to be given instructions by the charge nurse. But she was a softie at heart in spite of her bark. She did scrambled egg and toast for us on the old gas stove. It helped on those cruel mornings.

Enemas were given every Monday, it was a dehumanising regime. The poor souls were often kept quiet with large doses of Largactil. I hated the smell of it, and felt saddened by the way they were nursed in that section. Thankfully, times soon changed and that section was eventually closed. Caring became more humane and kinder.

The modern section of the hospital had patients with possible dangerous behaviour, some with just an imbalance due to medication; a lot of course had schizophrenia. We also had a lot of prostitutes suffering syphallis, a left over from war time. We also had padded cells for dangerous and violent members. I was once attacked when I delivered a meal, but I learned fast, and actually felt I was doing some good. We had free time then to talk to the patients and used it whenever we could. Nurses come from all backgrounds and I made good friends there.

I like to think I was a compassionate nurse; patients came to me for help and I felt capable of dealing with most problems. Sadly, I left after a year or so as my husband to be was being moved to New Zealand. I went willingly but regret not finishing the course.

So what happens now? We have no general care for those who are dangerous and having psychotic incidents. We have no continuity of care for those suffering mental disturbances, and there are people left out of the system, without a safety line to hang on to, go on re-offending. I emphasise I am talking only of patients who pose a risk to life.

We have a young man locally who is seriously dangerous, but taken in for one night only then turned out again to set fires, and try to attack people. The police come, and three of them have to help get him in the van. They take him to hospital, then he is out by the next day.

“Let them have freedom,” we are told. But what about our freedom? As a 79-year-old woman walking in our city, how safe will I be if this goes on? Am I free to walk without being attacked by some who is hallucinating? Who, when it comes down to it, actually cares about the general public as they make their laws allowing ‘freedom’.

Freedom should be earned; freedom should not be the right of those intent on harming others. The Mental Health Act needs a big overhaul.

Once we knew without doubt that some people need to be kept in a safe environment for the good of all. We obviously have it very wrong now, why not spend some money on putting it right! We need well-trained nurses and doctors, secure well-appointed homes, structured and monitored activities. We just need to treat them all with care and dignity. Yet most of all we need to monitor medication.

A beautiful man loved by all, was killed by the last knife wielding and disturbed person. The sweet man was just out for a stroll. He should have been able to do that, if someone had done the job they were meant to.

I would like to know how this new approach is supposed to work. Giving people choices is good, but in the severely disturbed state they are usually in giving them a choice of freedom or medication is probably not wise. If they can prove they are more stable, and are not likely to cause harm to anyone then let them have monitored freedom. It just seems another case of common sense flying out of the window. “Let them all live in the community,” come the cries, as new laws are made. Perhaps if it was their loved one being attacked in the street those that are considering these changes might like to reconsider.

One gem of information I was given when I started that first nursing job, “the specialists are madder than the patients” I was told… It could be right.