Failings in trust's mental health care

What happened

Ms B had no contact with her care co‑ordinator until early 2012, when she had another psychiatric appointment. There were then more delays and cancelled appointments before she was seen the next month. Ms B was unhappy about the support and asked the Trust to change her care co‑ordinator. A social worker took over the role in spring 2012 but only saw Ms B twice before she left the Trust. Staff did not tell Ms B she had left.

From late summer 2012 Ms B saw a Trust psychologist, and had regular psychology sessions.

What we found

The service Ms B received from her care co‑ordinator fell significantly short of what it should have been.

There was a three‑month delay in referring Ms B to the Trust's psychology service and she was not seen for another month. The Trust's target for assessment was six weeks.

Ms B said that she had asked to see a psychiatrist for some months during this time but the Trust did not follow up her requests. There were no records of this request. Not noting or acting on such requests was a failing.

Staff had told Ms B that she would get support with mindfulness, a therapeutic technique to calm the mind. Although she eventually had mindfulness training from the psychologist, this was more than a year after the Trust first offered it.

There were also failings in the Trust's complaint handling. It acknowledged that the service had been poor and apologised, but it had not identified all the failings that we highlighted.

Putting it right

The Trust apologised to Ms B for its failings and paid her £300 compensation to recognise the distress she had experienced. It also produced an action plan to address its failings and reviewed its complaint handling arrangements.