Maudsley Hospital - London

Andrew

I was an inpatient on John Dickson Ward and Lewis Unit earlier this year.

The experience was painfully boring as there are very few activities for the patients, the Trust having decided against paying for activity workers in recent years. The OT showed up sporadically, and the OT timetable pinned to the wall was a complete fallacy.

There were regular sightings of cockroaches on both wards. When I objected to sleeping in a room that had cockroaches I was detained under the Mental Health Act.

Bedrooms do not have en suite bathrooms as most modern psychiatric wards would have. Each day most of the toilets were in a foul state and trying to find one that was usable was a challenge.

Nursing staff and support staff are generally well-meaning, but poor at de-escalating heated situations, expressing condemnation when a patient appears agitated rather than trying to explore the underlying reasons they feel this way. There is significant use of bank staff who appear to do almost nothing.

There was no weekly community meeting as would happen in most psychiatric hospitals. Nursing staff do not routinely offer 1:1 conversations with patients about their care and experience. My care plan was generic and meaningless, incorporating very little of what I had suggested.

When taken out on leave I was told to 'hurry up' by a support worker despite having been out for less than 10 minutes, and when I expressed frustration at this he told me to 'shut up' twice. On returning to the ward I asked the nurse in charge for his name so I could make a complaint, but he refused to tell me. I made a formal complaint about this experience 20 weeks ago and the Trust complaints department has still not issued a response.

In terms of positive aspect to my inpatient stay, my Consultant Psychiatrist and the dual diagnosis worker were very good. The food is reasonable.

zania princess

Wonderful team of Psychiatrists. Hats off to Gladys and team. My daughter has been treated for Eating disorder. I cant thank them enough for their great dedication and care they take on the patients and families.

Rosie

I'm a delivery courier and get the odd order that takes me to this hospital. 3 times I've been here and have been treated with such a poor, unprofessional, rude manner. The first time I had instruction to leave the order at reception for customer to collect and was shouted at by the person behind the counter saying it's not their job to look after it. Twice I had to go through the maze of a hospital up to the ward to hand it to them, only for the staff working on the upper levels to tell me I shouldn't be here and it's a "security risk". I had a customer on the other side of the door looking at me and asking the staff to open it and I said they're right there and the staff said I was not allowed to give it to them, then proceed to ask why I came up to the ward. What the heck was I supposed to do? Ask your patients to go down to reception or make a designated area for deliveries or visitors/family to drop off stuff. We don't get paid per hour, so can you imagine how much time I'm wasting for a £3 job. 5-10 mins max becomes 20 for a simple drop off. I will never accept orders that take me here again.

Alex Sim

With departments from King's College London and the Institute of Psychiatry this hospital is host to some world class research departments and national centres of excellence for treatment such as the Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma. They also do excellent monthly lectures.

federica furlotti

I have been looked after by the Maudsley psychiatrist team for a long time now. Their team is absolutely the best I have experienced in london. Without them I wouldn’t be here. Thanks to everyone at Maudsley!

Neon Blue

This is a review for the Trauma and Dissociation Centre at Maudsley. Ever since my appointment I've felt disheartened about the care I received.

When I was at my appointment, I expressed to the assessor that I've got a slight fear of professionals due to past experiences which relate to my C-PTSD today. They seemed understanding and worked to make the environment a comfortable one, however when I brought up my coping mechanism I was shut down.

My coping mechanism was something I'd allowed myself to do as an act of love and self-care, it was something good for me and I was already seeing the benefits. For years, I'd struggled with people making eye contact with me in public spaces. A lot of it could easily be swept aside as paranoia, but it is a daily occurance for me and others who have been with me at the time have noticed this, too.

Before I'd try my coping mechanism, in public places I would have no choice than to keep my head down and be forced to feel uncomfortable. It had been a knee-jerk reaction where if someone glanced at me, I'd have to move my eyes around in uncomfortable and unnatural ways, just to avoid making eye contact in case they think I'm staring at them. In the past it had always caused me a lot of emotional upset and had made it hard to leave the house at times, because of this reason. This coping mechanism meant I could find out for myself if people were staring or if they wasn't and to help develop more confidence within myself, instead of fearing that everyone thinks I'm staring at them.

Before meeting the assessor I was only a couple of weeks into my coping mechanism and practicing it. I cannot tell you how much better it was making me feel in public, I was able to lift my head up and look around at the scenery, I was able to look at people head on, I didn't have to move my eyes around to dodge people and nothing felt unnatural. This is something I never had the bravery to do until recently, and now that I've had my two appointments with the Trauma and Dissociation Centre all I can say is that I carry regrets. I wouldn't have brought up it so freely, if I had known there would've been judgement.

Some people are further ahead in life than others and when attending my appointment, I was already years into my problems and had finally found something which was giving me benefit and actual results. I was told that we wasn't at that stage yet, after suffering from my problems for so many years, and finally getting the confidence to put my strength into my own hands. I said it was a form of pushing myself, of breaking through the barriers, because sometimes pushing yourself is an important thing to do. I was aware of what I could and couldn't handle, it was not causing me an ounce of discomfort in any way.

To go through that and now be reduced back to someone who can't lift their head up and look at people once again, whose eye movements are unnatural because they're trying to avoid making people uncomfortable, who can't go outside without the fear of being judged or scrutinised. Taking away my coping mechanism did this, telling me we weren't at that stage despite my own personal growth did this. I understand it isn't possible to have something simply taken away, but when you're only at the beginning of trying to break through those barriers, it only becomes more effective the longer you try. So it wasn't completely set in stone and easily breakable. Hence why I describe it as being "taken away".

Vanessa Cox

Appalling. Unprofessional. Put me at risk and did nothing about bullying by patients. An intense group of 4 OCD patients who led the other vulnerable and weak willed patients, were cruel, spiteful and repeatedly broke the patient contract. They thought and made complaints that I wasn't I'll enough to be there. Nothing was done about it by staff or managers. It caused me untold upset and stood in the way of my long awaited Body Dysmorphia and PTSD treatment. They (patients and staff) were two faced, had intense sexual / friendships / relationship with other patients and staff, were astonishly 'acting out' and discussing how to make their OCD behaviours worse so they could spend longer in hospital / ADRU. I would not go along with it. When I questioned their behaviour and reported the behaviour to staff they were defended and protected by Dr Veale and the Management, Dr Anna Smith and other staff, despite it being witnessed by staff and nothing was done. Staff discussed their private lives with me including subjects which caused flashbacks and re traumatisation. I was victimised when I reported it the behaviour and then, get this told to leave! They sent me home being suicidal and not informing my GP or husband.

I was told I had to be compassionate and understand why they were bullying me. They put me through hell, excluded ridiculed, bullied, vicious name calling about my facial deformity from which I will never recover. It should be shut down. My complaint to the Trust was a waste of time as they all exonerated each other, as are all NHS complaints. It is not a centre of excellence. It's a disaster with nepotism and poor management that put my life at risk. The legacy is that have no treatment and will end my life.

Maxx Vance

Veeska (rough spelling) told me to kill myself if i was serious about what i was going through and also refused to understand i was trans around 2018 I'm surprised he's still working there and is allowed to work with kids going through mental health crisis.