A mum who buried her son five years ago today has said a damning report into mental health care in Tayside “won’t change a thing”.
Mandy McLaren was reacting to the 136-page document that laid bare the shocking state of care at Dundee’s Carseview centre and other local facilities.
The independent review – released today by chairman David Strang – was commissioned following a campaign in the Daily Record by relatives of suicide victims whose loved ones were let down by NHS Tayside.
Since the inquiry was opened last July, it has spoken with more than 2000 people and received more than 200 submissions.
Mandy, whose son Dale Thomson took his own life in 2015 aged just 28, said: “We’ve heard it all before. How many times do theses people say ‘Lessons will be learned.’ It’s a disgrace.”
The scathing report – that includes a staggering 51 recommendations – highlighted how patients who posed a risk to the public were allowed to discharge themselves and said that drug abuse was rife on wards.
It criticised the use of restraint methods and revealed that some patients waited up to a year for treatment after being assessed.
The catastrophic findings said NHS Tayside “lacked a mental health strategy” and “on too many occasions adopted a defensive position” to protect its reputation “at all costs”.
It said there was “hostility between professional groupings” with a “history of managers blaming clinicians and clinicians blaming managers.”
It concluded that “a breakdown in trust and a loss of respect has undoubtedly led to poor service, treatment, patient care and outcomes.”
Mandy said if the recommendations had been made earlier, Dale, who received only basic treatment at Carseview, would be alive today.
She said: “None of the managers want to ever take responsibility there – they’re too worried about losing their massive pay-packets.
“All they do is firefight and try to quickly deal with problems when they crop up. But they only scratch the surface, nothing is ever done on a deeper, strategic level. Until that happens, nothing will ever change and young people will continue to die totally unnecessarily.”
David Strang, chairman of the inquiry said: “The report’s title – Trust and Respect – reflects the main conclusions of the Inquiry – that there has been a loss of trust in mental health services in Tayside. Trust needs to be rebuilt by treating everyone with respect.”
Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “At the heart of this review is a question of trust. Patients, staff and families have been badly let down. Ministers and health bosses must now begin the arduous task of rebuilding that precious trust.”
A spokesman for Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland said: “This report and its recommendations must deliver improvements for local people, and must ensure a joined-up person- centred approach which puts people at the heart based on trust and respect.”
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said the dire state of mental health services at NHS Tayside had been “laid bare”, adding: “The board not only failed to act on issues highlighted by the report but refused to change.”
“The failings are systemic and demand a root-and-branch culture change.”
