Latest news with #CQC
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Devon children's mental health service rated 'good'
A children's health service in Devon which cares for young people with mental health needs has been rated as good following concerns about its Care Quality Commission (CQC) launched the inspection in response to concerns about the Inpatient Physical Health Services for children in Torbay and South inspection, in November 2024, focused on people who were receiving treatment for eating disorders associated with a mental health condition at Torbay Director at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust Shelly Machin said she was "proud" of the results but she added that she was aware that improvements were still needed. 'Dedicated and compassionate' The published report showed the service ranked as good in respect to how safe, effective, responsive, caring and well-led it was. However CQC said it must ensure staff have access to additional training in understanding "the needs of children with a learning disability and autistic children". The overall CQC rating for Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust remains as 'requires improvement'. Mrs Machin said: "Over recent years our paediatric inpatient ward has supported an increasing number of children and young people with eating disorders and mental health needs."She said she was proud the inspection found her "dedicated and compassionate colleagues" were doing their best to provide high-quality added: "We are aware of the improvements that are needed and an action plan is in place to help us drive these forward."She said the trust would support colleagues "with more training" and "doing what we can to improved the ward environment to maintain privacy, dignity and safety".
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Mental health trust requires improvement says CQC report
A mental health trust has been told it requires improvement, following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).Inspectors visited the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) over three days in July 2024, after concerns were raised about the quality of care being report found that the trust had breached legal regulations relating to safeguarding and that staff feared "retribution" for speaking Hardisty, AWP chief executive, said: "Whilst disappointed with the outcome of the Well-Led inspection, we are pleased to have been rated good in our adult community services and adult wards, which is a tribute to the hard work of our staff." He added: "This demonstrates a commitment to, and track record of progress, and over the last year we implemented a range of additional improvements in those areas identified by CQC to further enhance the experience for our patients, staff and stakeholders."'Well-led' inspections focus on ensuring the need for an "inclusive and positive culture" and do not cover the CQC's other areas of oversight such as safety and trust provides mental health services in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire. Staff 'feared speaking up' The report stated that the trust had "not ensured, Freedom to Speak Up (FTSU) processes were effective, that racism and discrimination were addressed across all services and safeguarding systems and processes were effective".It indicated that while staff were aware of the FTSU process, it found that they "feared retribution when speaking up", with some staff reporting that they "did not feel safe in completing staff surveys".Inspectors also found that certain staff believed there was a "performative culture", in relation to the trust's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) ambitions "where senior leaders spoke of inclusion, but there was a lack of action on how the trust truly achieved this".This was compounded by the finding that "staff felt their career progression and opportunities could be compromised if they disclosed information about their protected characteristics". 'Driving improvements' The report praised the trust's Green Plan, saying there was a "clear understanding" of where reduction in emissions could be achieved. The trust had also secured grants for solar panels and LED trust was also said to have a willingness to "improve culture and hear from patients" and some staff told inspectors that they felt senior leaders were "capable, compassionate and took feedback on board".Shane Devlin, chief executive officer of NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board, said he was "assured by the progress AWP has already started to make and are committed, as system partners, to supporting its leadership team in driving continued improvements".
BBC News
5 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
‘Exploited' migrant care workers ‘charged £10k for visas'
Overseas workers hired to look after elderly and vulnerable people claim to have faced threats, exploitation and a "climate of fear" at a care home at Lotus Care, which runs 10 care homes across north-west England, said they were often forced to work double shifts because of staff shortages, were denied sick leave, were underpaid and threatened with deportation if they also alleged they were charged thousands of pounds for free work visas by a Merseyside agency that helped to arrange the Care denied malpractice allegations and said its recruitment processes "adhere strictly to industry standards and the legal requirements" of the sector. The firm said it was "committed to upholding the highest ethical standards" and "unaware" of any visa fees being paid by migrant workers, saying it paid the Home Office for the relevant paperwork itself. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the care at five of the company's facilities "inadequate" or "requires improvement" in recent 2022 at Cressington Court in Liverpool, the CQC found a resident had not been bathed for four weeks and another had lost six stone in six last year, in what was its sixth inspection in a row, the CQC found "overwhelming failures" at Finch Manor, also in firm previously said it was working to address the issues raised by the CQC and improvements had been recorded by inspectors at two homes in the last 12 a male migrant worker, who spoke to the BBC as part of its eight-month investigation, said he remained concerned."There's constant pressure and there's a climate of fear because management use the threat of cancelling visas and deporting staff to silence any complaints," he said.A female migrant added that she "can't stand the mental stress"."They put more and more work on us," she said. "If anyone is calling in sick, we have to do double shifts. It's too much – it's like torture."A second female migrant worker told the BBC her friend had been ill and she had been "shouted at and threatened, she was told she needed to go to work".The BBC has seen messages from a WhatsApp group set up by Lotus Care's management to communicate with dozens of overseas several messages, the migrants are told their licence to work, also known as a certificate of sponsorship (CoS), will be "revoked". If a CoS is cancelled, overseas workers have 60 days to find a new employer before they are deported."I take it from the silence that you all happy for your licences to be revoked? I will start the process without further delay," the firm's owner, Jaydeep Patel, told the group in one another message, sent after a period of hot weather last year, a senior Lotus Care manager said calling in sick for a fever was "unacceptable", and told the workers to "take paracetamol".Mr Patel added: "40 degrees back home in India!!"Lotus Care said the messages were "selective" and they had been shared by "disgruntled staff members" who "left the service under investigation".Some migrant workers told the BBC the messages and the pressure they put them under affected their ability to work. 'A wad of cash' The migrants spoken to by the BBC were all placed with Lotus Care through a Merseyside care agency.A whistleblower, who formerly worked at the agency, said she had witnessed "more than 100" migrants arriving at the office between 2022 and were going there to make cash payments for CoS, the whistleblower told the BBC she had seen one migrant "handing over a wad of cash in an envelope". "It was obviously thousands of pounds," she said. "A few months later, I saw she was working in a Liverpool care home."If they all paid £10,000 per person, that's hundreds of thousands of pounds."She said two bosses at the agency were "making lots of money", driving expensive cars and taking expensive holidays."They were making a lot of money, you could see the newer cars they were driving, the bigger holidays they were going on," she workers for CoS is government said the cost, which is £284, should be covered by the employer."These migrant workers travelled halfway across the world for a new life and they just looked terrified," the whistleblower added."Some of the conditions they were to sent to work in were terrible."It's just very sad, the new life that they'd hoped for they didn't really get."The care agency denied the allegations. However, the BBC was told last year that a former senior staff member, Shyam Prabhakar, was actively involved in the illegal sale of care Prabhakar, the director of several takeaway businesses in Liverpool, described himself as a "recruitment consultant" in documents filed with Companies House. In a secretly recorded call with a researcher posing as a potential client, Mr Prabhakar spoke of care home jobs in Leicester, Peterborough, Kettering and indicated that the fee for a CoS, and a job, would be between £11,500 and £12,000"Once the interview is done and you get the offer letter, you pay half. And before we give the CoS, you should pay the remaining," Mr Prabhakar researcher asked whether the job was "guaranteed" if the money was Prabhakar said: "Yeah, yeah, yeah."When confronted about the allegations outside his home, Mr Prabhakar told the BBC: "I didn't do anything."He said that someone might have been "framing" him. 'Ripe for exploitation' Citizens Advice said the exploitation of care workers was something it heard about regularly."Every month we're seeing about 120 people in our advice centres," said Citizens Advice policy manager David Mendes da Costa."Our advisers often see people that have spent thousands of pounds - often more than £10,000 - in order to get a visa and a job in the care sector."They think it's going to pay well and they've been told they'll get good hours and good treatment."But when they arrive, they find out that the hours aren't there. [They] have pay withheld, and they're often treated worse than British employees."Workers with a CoS are reliant on their employer for continued sponsorship to remain in the UK."This puts the employer in a huge position of power and that's why it's really ripe for exploitation," said Mr Mendes da Costa. He added: "People don't want to raise problems because they know if they're dismissed, they'll not just lose their job, they'll also lose their right to stay in the country."Industry body Skills for Care estimated that around 185,000 people were recruited from overseas on health and social care visas between March 2022 and March 2024.A recent Unison survey of more than 3,000 migrants working in the care sector was told almost a quarter had paid illegal visa of those surveyed reported abuse from their Brown, a senior investigator at the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, told the BBC: "In the first quarter of last year, 61% of all our reports were concerning abuse in the adult social care sector."Mr Brown said abuse was often "in plain sight" and urged the public to look out for said: "If they're visiting relatives, the biggest one to look out for is people working excessive hours and rarely having any days off. So you'll regularly see the same face."Scavenging for food or asking for food is another [sign], as is not being very social, and having little interaction with others."A Home Office official said: "Allegations of visa abuse are taken incredibly seriously and will always be investigated thoroughly."The spokesman said the government was working to take action "against employers who abuse the visa system, with tough measures that will ban businesses who flout UK employment laws from sponsoring overseas workers". Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
The Sun
7 days ago
- Health
- The Sun
I was caged like an animal, made to eat with my hands on the floor and sexually assaulted after a GP appointment
WHEN teacher Alexis Quinn reached out to her GP for support, she never imagined it would be the worst decision of her life. The single mother, then 27, had suffered a breakdown following the tragic death of her younger brother, Josh, in December 2012. 6 6 She expected to discuss therapy or perhaps going on anti-depressants, but instead, the teacher was detained under the Mental Health Act. She ended up being held in 12 psychiatric units across the UK for more than three and a half years, feeling 'trapped and caged like an animal'. She says she endured multiple sexual assaults, regular solitary confinement - once for 28 consecutive days - and frequent physical restraints. Alexis says she was misunderstood - in fact she had undiagnosed autism and struggled with major life changes. Fearing a lifetime inside an institution, Alexis escaped hospital with the help of two friends who drove her to Dover, Kent. From there, she managed to reach Africa, where she spent five years rebuilding her life before finally returning home. Today, Alexis, 40, lives in Kent with her two neurodivergent children - a 13-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son. She's an autism advocate and helps advise the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and Care Quality Commission (CQC). But the scars remain. She tells Sun Health: 'The thing that sticks the most is just the dehumanisation of you, like you're just a piece of s***. Simple 10-question test that can help determine if you have autism 'It's the feeling that you're so worthless; that you're an animal that can just be locked in a room without a toilet or a shower, and you can sit and eat with your hands. That felt so monstrous. 'I lost nine years of my life - four incarcerated and five rebuilding my life back up abroad. 'I can't get those years back - years that I could have been spending with my daughter and building my career. 'I still constantly feel under threat that I could have my freedom taken away again because the systems that meant I could be detained for so long haven't changed. 'In fact, more autistic people are unnecessarily detained now than when I was.' The latest NHS data shows that 1,435 autistic people remained "locked away" in mental health hospitals in England in March 2025. That's 55 more than in March 2024, and a 136 per cent rise since 2015. Mel Merritt, head of policy and campaigns at the National Autistic Society, says: "Currently autistic people are deprived of their basic liberties in mental health hospitals, where they often face abuse, overmedication, and unnecessary restraint and the average stay is nearly five years. "The only way to end the human rights scandal is to have a proper Government plan." The 2019 NHS Long Term Plan introduced a target to halve the number of autistic people and those with a learning disability in mental health hospitals from March 2015, but this was missed. The NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 introduced a new target of a 10 per cent minimum reduction. Tragic loss sent Alexis spiralling Alexis' trauma began shortly after returning from five years of teaching in Asia. The Edinburgh University graduate had just started a new job at a grammar school teaching PE, moved back in with her parents, and was caring for her newborn daughter. The baby's father remained in Asia and was not involved. Already overwhelmed, her brother Josh's sudden and heartbreaking death sent her spiralling. As a child, Alexis would often fixate on details - a feature of her undiagnosed autism - which made her an A-grade student and a stellar swimmer who represented Great Britain at international level as a teenager. Now, though, she had become fixated on death. She says: 'I was really interested in how my brother died; how his body shut down, what happened, why it happened.' A few weeks after Josh's death, her GP referred her to a mental health team, which, concerned for her wellbeing, suggested she take a 72-hour respite stay at St Martin's Hospital in Canterbury, to which Alexis agreed. Within hours of arriving, however, she realised something was terribly wrong. They restrained me, pulled my pants down, injected me with sedatives, and left me locked up on Christmas Day Alexis Quinn Alexis, author of UNbroken, Autistic and Expecting, and Improving Mental Health Therapies for Autistic Children and Young People, says: 'The noise of the unit, the busyness, the irate family members - it was overwhelming. 'There was a lot of violence, and I was watching people's distress, but feeling the very same distress myself. 'I entered this cycle of sensory overload and meltdowns.' Autistic meltdowns are extreme sensory and emotional reactions to stressful environments. But because her autism was undiagnosed, Alexis' behaviours were interpreted as dangerous. Staff responded with restraint, sedation, and seclusion. These practices are supposed to be a last resort, but figures released to the Liberal Democrats under the Freedom of Information Act in 2017 suggest they are widespread, with mental health trusts in England restraining patients every 10 minutes, on average. In just one year, patients across 40 trusts were restrained 59,808 times, compared to 46,499 three years earlier (2013-14). 'On Friday, I was teaching in a grammar school. By Monday, I was being told I'm somewhere I'm not allowed to leave,' Alexis says. 'I was like, 'f***ing open the door. This isn't what I signed up for'. 'I equated hospital with care and support. I didn't equate hospital with a complete loss of freedom. 'I'd lost my liberty and I hadn't committed a crime.' 6 Alexis was officially sectioned under the Mental Health Act - meaning she was deemed a danger to herself or others and required treatment, whether she agreed or not. She entered a traumatic cycle: overload, meltdown, forced restraint, powerful sedatives, and long-term segregation. Alexis was moved between psychiatric hospitals throughout England, often placed in mixed-sex units. On Christmas Eve 2013, already low at the thought of not being with her daughter, who was with Alexis' mother, she says she was assaulted by a male patient at Littlebrook Hospital in Dartford, after being lured down a corridor. She says: 'He pressed me up against the door and he lifted my top up, and he started to touch me on my breasts. 'He then sort of pulled my trousers down, and all I could hear was his breathing, and everything was slow and really loud. 'I remember not being able to move, and being stuck. I don't know what exactly happened in my mind, but at some point I just pushed him away.' When she reported the assault, she suffered another meltdown and was placed in solitary confinement. 'They restrained me, pulled my pants down, injected me with sedatives, and left me locked in the room on Christmas Day,' Alexis says. 'It was just me.' The key characteristics of autism - and why they go unnoticed By Alice Fuller, Health Features Editor MODEL Christine McGuinness was a 'recluse' for eight years and only left the house at 3am. Springwatch presenter Chris Packham says it makes him a 'task-centric workaholic who sees problems in everything he does'. And recently, Bella Ramsey revealed they were diagnosed after struggling to wear thermals on the set of The Last of Us. But what exactly is autism and why does it seem so different in everyone? Leanne Cooper-Brown, neurodevelopmental lead at Clinical Partners, tells Sun Health: 'Autism is considered a spectrum, so not all people share the same traits. 'Whereas we used to think of autism as a linear line, we have come to realise that terms such as 'high' and 'low' functioning or definitions of 'mild', 'moderate' or 'severe' aren't helpful and can be misleading. 'Nowadays, we think of autism in terms of the strengths and needs of the individual, which can change over time depending on their environment and support network.' About 700,000 people in the UK are thought to have autism - that's one in 100. But research by University College London suggests that number could be twice as high, as many people remain undiagnosed. Cases are on the rise though. Figures released last year showed a 175 per cent increase from 2011 to 2022. Dr Selina Warlow, clinical psychologist and owner of The Nook Neurodevelopmental Clinic, says: 'Conversation around neurodiversity is becoming normalised, and that's so positive to see. But more awareness is needed. 'Receiving a diagnosis can open access to expert resources that support autistic people to thrive in society.' Autism has long been associated with social difficulties, like problems maintaining conversations and forming relationships. But research published in the journal Cell Press suggested that repetitive behaviours - like rocking or finger-flicking - and special interests - whether it's TV shows or specific animals - are more indicative of an autism diagnosis. Generally though, experts say the core characteristics include… Sensitivity - autistic people can be much more or less sensitive to sights, sounds, textures, tastes and smells. For example, they find bright lights or crowded spaces overwhelming, Leanne says. They may also stand too close to others or need to move their whole body to look at something. Stimming - to manage this sensory overload, some people use repetitive movements or sounds. 'This is called stimming, and includes rocking, tapping and hand-flapping,' Dr Warlow says. 'Though it's something everyone does to some extent, those with autism are likely to engage with it as a form of self-regulation.' Masking - this is a strategy used by some autistic people, consciously or not, to match neurotypical people, Dr Warlow says. 'It's a way of hiding your true characteristics, and could involve copying facial expressions, planning conversations in advance, or holding in 'stimming' - swapping hand clapping with playing with a pen, for example,' she adds. Burnout - this is a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion and is a common feature in autism. 'Being extremely tired, both mentally and physically, can be associated with the act of masking for a long period of time, or sensory or social overload,' Dr Warlow says. 'Symptoms of autistic burnout include social withdrawal, reduced performance and increased sensitivity.' Social struggles - socialising can be confusing or tiring for autistic people. They often find it hard to understand what others are thinking or feeling, making it challenging to make friends. Leanne says: 'In adults, autism may present as difficulties with interpreting social cues such as understanding body language or sarcasm, struggling to express emotions or preferring to be alone. This can impact relationships and work.' Routine - many of us have a fairly regular daily schedule. But for autistic people, this becomes a 'very strong preference for routine', Leanne says. This could be needing a daily timetable to know what is going to happen and when, or having rigid preferences about foods or clothing. Literal thinking - some autistic people have a literal view of language - like believing it's actually 'raining cats and dogs' or that someone really wants you to 'break a leg'. Dr Warlow says: 'This can result in confusion with figures of speech, irony or indirect requests. 'For instance, being told to 'pull your socks up' might be understood literally, not as a motivational phrase.' Hyperfocus - often associated with ADHD, hyperfocusing is also common in autistic people. 'It's where you're able to focus intensely on an activity and become absorbed to the point of forgetting about time,' Dr Warlow says. 'This is useful in work or hobbies but can result in neglect of other aspects of life, such as food or rest.' Special interests - we all have hobbies and interests, but for autistic people, these are so compelling they often want to spend all their time learning about, thinking about or doing them. 'Special interests could include anything from dinosaurs to superheroes, and gardening to music,' Dr Warlow says. 'These usually begin in childhood, but can also form as an adult. 'Chris Packham is an example of an autistic person who turned his childhood special interest in animals into a successful career, becoming one of the UK's best-loved natural world TV presenters.' A second assault occurred months later, back at St Martin's, when a male patient groped her in a treatment room. Her mother Linda, a former police officer, filed formal complaints with the Kent and Medway NHS Trust. Both were investigated, and the Trust issued an apology, but no further action was taken. After that, Alexis experienced more sexual assaults. She says: 'It happened a dozen or so times, but I didn't report them because the first two were completely dismissed and actually made my life worse. 'It was put on my record that I was liable to make allegations - even though the police had investigated.' It wasn't until Alexis was transferred to a specialist unit in York in 2014 that a doctor recognised her behaviour for what it was. 'She said, 'Alexis, you're not sick - you're autistic',' Alexis remembers. 'It was liberating. From that moment on, some of the treatment got better. 'People weren't blaming me for my behaviour - they were trying to understand.' 'It was the worst time of my life' She was moved to Milton Park Therapeutic Campus in Bedfordshire - an assessment and treatment unit (ATU) for people with autism and learning disabilities. But what should have been a turning point became her darkest period. She had hoped things would be different with her new diagnosis but within hours of admission, her phone was taken away from her. Feeling trapped once more, Alexis left the unit but was chased down by police. That same day, she was detained and put in solitary confinement for eight days. 'It was the worst time of my life,' she says. 'I spent 28 days in solitary confinement at one point. I was in a room nine steps wide. 'You don't know whether you're dead or alive because when you're not observed and interacted with by staff, that really drives you crazy. 'There's no clock. You are fed on the floor. You don't have a knife and fork so you have to eat with your hands. 'There's no shower, no bedding, just a mattress. It's just disgusting.' The CQC identified a number of safeguarding issues at Milton Park unconnected to Alexis' experience, and the centre is now closed. By 2016, now in a unit in Ramsgate, Kent, Alexis saw no hope of ever breaking out of the system she felt locked in for more than three years. Two family friends, a retired GP and his partner, learned of her story and started visiting her in care. They helped advocate for her section to be removed, but Alexis learned she would remain detained for another year. The couple had previously joked that they would help her escape if she needed to, so Alexis took them up on the offer. On a spring day in May 2016, Alexis walked out of the hospital garden, picked up a hidden bag of clothes, and climbed into their car. They drove her to Dover. From there, she travelled to Paris, then Dubai, and finally Lagos, Nigeria, where she knew a friend was living. 6 6 'I had money saved up from my work in Asia and when the plane took off, I just couldn't stop crying,' she says. 'I felt safe for the first time in four years. 'Then I remember that feeling of the warmth of the African sun on my face and the big blue skies and knowing I could make my own choices again.' She was stopped in France after British authorities flagged she had fled, but decided to let her go, saying there was no legal reason to hold her. The couple who helped her were contacted by police in the aftermath but were not charged. Within a matter of weeks, Alexis was teaching at a school and her daughter, who flew out with her grandparents, soon joined her. Her section was removed in September 2016 following a six-month legal battle, but Alexis stayed in Africa for five years in fear of return. 'It's the moments of intimacy and connection that people take for granted that I appreciated the most,' she says. 'The little things, too. I now got to choose who saw me naked and who saw me with no make-up. 'I was no longer being watched on CCTV, forced to eat off the floor, or urinate in corners.' What does it mean to be sectioned and detained? Sectioned: This term refers to being detained under a specific "section" of the Mental Health Act 1983. It means that an individual is legally required to stay in a hospital or mental health facility for assessment or treatment for their mental health condition, whether they agree or not. The specific "section" determines the circumstances and duration of the detention. For example: Section 2: For assessment (up to 28 days). Section 3: For treatment (up to six months, renewable). Section 4: Emergency detention (up to 72 hours). To be sectioned just refers to the legal process. Someone should only be sectioned if: They need to be assessed or treated for a mental health problem Their health would be at risk of getting worse if they did not get treatment Their safety or someone else's safety would be at risk if they did not get treatment Their doctor thinks they need to be assessed or treated in hospital, for example if they need to be monitored very regularly because they have to take new or very powerful medication. Otherwise, they may be asked to attend a hospital out-patient clinic. If you are sectioned, you can be kept in hospital, stopped from leaving the ward and given treatment for your mental health problems, possibly without your consent. Detained: This is the broader legal term that refers to being held in a hospital under the Mental Health Act. If someone is "sectioned," they are also "detained." However, "detained" is the formal legal term, while "sectioned" is more commonly used in everyday language. An individual is detained because health professionals believe they pose a risk to themselves or others due to their mental health. Between April 2022 and March 2023, more than 51,000 people were detained under the Act in the UK. This is nearly an eight per cent reduction compared to the previous year's figures. Black people were nearly four times more likely to be detained under the Act than white people. People from deprived areas were also nearly four times more likely to be detained for mental health treatment. If you are sectioned, you normally have the right to get help from someone called an independent mental health advocate (IMHA) who can help you find out what rights you have while you are sectioned, and how to be discharged from hospital and get the section lifted. A family member will have certain legal rights related to your sectioning. Today, Alexis is back in the UK. She has not only rebuilt her life as a qualified counsellor and psychotherapist, but also committed herself to improving the system that failed her. As a human rights campaigner, she advocates for better understanding of autism and champions community-based care over institutionalisation. Through other work advising the CQC, she also hopes to influence policies and hold care providers accountable. 'We need support that's compassionate,' she says. 'Not people being handcuffed and carted off. Not people being locked in rooms for weeks. 'I know the treatment people still receive is harsh and unjust. People are dying.' Despite all she has endured, Alexis remains hopeful. 'I don't think you can put into words what my friends did for me, so what I do is to just try and make the best of my life, and I try to make the best of it for other people,' she says. 'I try to contribute in a positive way to make sure this stuff doesn't happen again to anyone. 'I can't make up for lost time with my daughter, now 13, but I can hopefully show my children there's a different path.' Help for mental health If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support. The following are free to contact and confidential: Samaritans, 116 123 CALM (the leading movement against suicide in men) 0800 585 858 Papyrus (prevention of young suicide) 0800 068 41 41 Shout (for support of all mental health) text 85258 to start a conversation Mind, provide information about types of mental health problems and where to get help for them. Call the infoline on 0300 123 3393 (UK landline calls are charged at local rates, and charges from mobile phones will vary). YoungMinds run a free, confidential parents helpline on 0808 802 5544 for parents or carers worried about how a child or young person is feeling or behaving. The website has a chat option too. Rethink Mental Illness, gives advice and information service offers practical advice on a wide range of topics such as The Mental Health Act, social care, welfare benefits, and carers rights. Use its website or call 0300 5000 927 (calls are charged at your local rate). Heads Together, is the a mental health initiative spearheaded by The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Falls and medicine breaches reported at care home
Concerns over "unwitnessed falls" and unsafe medicine management were raised by inspectors at a Surrey care home. A report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) - which has since been removed from the website - said there had been a "breach of legal regulations" in relation to medicines at the Kings Lodge care home in Camberley. A CQC spokesperson confirmed the report had been taken down as "factual accuracy points" were being checked and the home's overall rating, based on a 2021 report, is listed as "good". Aura Care Living Ltd, which runs the home, said it "more accurately reflects the high standards of care provided by our dedicated team, and the positive experience" of residents. The CQC spokesperson said the body was checking all factual accuracy points from the provider had been addressed and would publish an updated report shortly. A spokesperson for Aura Care Living Ltd, which runs the home, said at the time the report was published they had "fully taken on board" its comments. Inspectors in the removed report rated the home as "requires improvement" overall and particularly in the areas of safety and leadership. They rated it "good" for being effective, caring and responsive. "Overall, people were cared for by staff who were kind and caring and knew them well," they said. Inspectors also said the home was developed to meet people's needs, including those living with dementia. While some relatives told inspectors they thought there were not enough staff, another said: "I can't speak more highly of the Kings Lodge staff. They are all so kind." The Aura Care spokesperson said management and staff at the home were "deeply disappointed" by the publication of the report and believed the rating given did not "reflect the lived experience and positive feedback" of residents and families. They added: "The management team have already addressed the concerns raised in the inspection report and are looking forward to CQC inspecting them again." They said they were pleased the CQC had "acknowledged an internal IT error that affected the publication of their recent inspection report for King's Lodge. "As a result of this error, the CQC has now redacted the report and reinstated our previous 'Overall Good' rating on their website. "We remain fully committed to continuous improvement and maintaining the quality of care that our residents and their families rightly expect and deserve. Anyone with questions is encouraged to contact the home directly—we are always happy to have an open conversation about the care we provide and the values we uphold." Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Regulator confirms action taken against care homes Care provider has registration cancelled by CQC Adult social care rated good by watchdog Aura Care Living Ltd
