According to N.I.C.E (The National Institute for Clinical Excellence) since 2000 only 0.5% of the population of the UK suffer with schizophrenia (220,000 people.) That's roughly 1 in 45 people suffering with schizophrenia. Doesn't sound like much does it. Perhaps it's a good thing that this affliction is so sparsely spread out through the population. In the past decade I have been involved with three shizophrenic people and they have all been failed by their care plans. No doubt goverment funding cuts have had a dramatic effect on this.
In November 2012 The Schizophrenia Commission said there were "shameful" standards of care on some acute
mental health wards, which could make patients worse rather than better. The commission, established by the mental health charity Rethink Mental
Illness, has called for a radical overhaul of the care system. The
report suggests that too much money is being spent on secure care – the
most expensive form of care – and more should be invested in prevention
and community support.
Professor Sir Robin Murray, chair of the commission, said:"The message that comes through loud and clear is that people are being
badly let down by the system in every area of their lives.
"We wouldn't accept this state of affairs for cancer, why should people with schizophrenia have to endure it?"
Andrew McCulloch, chief executive at the Mental Health Foundation, said:
"GPs and other health professionals must do more to offer routine
health assessments to people with severe mental health problems and
address identified needs."
From personal experience I can say that in Herefordshire specifically, schizophrenic sufferers are drugged up and then let loose on the community. As they have a 'high rate of disability' they are awarded a fairly large sickness benefit, which allows them to have whatever they want. Some of this money is supposed to be for the payment of a carer. From what I have seen this money is only ever used by the patient to gamble, drink or take drugs. It would be easy perhaps to blame the patient for blowing all their money on vices. Wouldn't you take drink and drugs if you weren't in control of your mind?
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| Schizophrenia sufferer |
I have seen two of my friends who suffer with the big S end up getting arrested and locked up because their care plans are failing them. Something upseting will happen in their lives and then they will start to become more mentally unstable, causing them to act erratically, because most schizophrenics are fairly intelligent their are fairly apt at avoiding all of their medical appointments with the mental health team, hiding from them when they call at their residences, and pretending to those people around them that they are fine. One person told me the mental health team had told them they didn't need their medication anymore and had started to wean them off it. This is the reason that they appear a bit out of sorts. When in reality for two months he hadn't been going to get his medication and was quiet literally falling apart at the seams. He continued to break down untill he did something that ended up with him being arrested. Fortunately for this case he has now been released and has a care package which is much better than the one he had before.
Sadly another sufferer, albiet on a lesser level, who I thought was doing OK is now on bail and awaiting sentence for theft from a charity, his partner has left him, and as part of his bail conditions he is not allowed back in to the town so he is unable to see his baby girl. He is quiet literally heart broken, unsure of the outcome. Why did he turn to theft. Well he says that for a couple of weeks he "Hadn't been feeling quite right." as he put it. And none of his care team had picked up on it. I had noticed that he had been a bit low, but he had been going through some personal hardships. So I put it down to that. To make things worse he hasn't even got himself legal representation, true to his straight down the line attitude he believes that he "Did the crime so do the time." If he gets his way he will be tried without his illness being taken into account. Surely this isn't right is it? I know some people who think it is right. They are wrong.
It seems to me that people with schizophrenia should be monitored more closely not just diagnosed, drugged up to the eyeballs and then released back into the community. It is like a wildlife capture, treat and release program. These are at the end of the day human beings not wild animals.
