What a palaver…my credit card has been taken over by another bank and I rarely use it, just for any emergencies. I received a reminder to use it or lose it couple of months ago so I made a small model purchase of paints and glue. Today I received the bill and it has taken me half an hour to register and pay it. I have a list of passwords, PIN codes, etc…as long as my arm. No wonder the elderly can become confused by it all.

I promised some stories from my nursing past and some are memorable but many are quite sad or indicative of the poor state of affairs in MH.

I worked many years ago with a patient who believed he was in contact with aliens, so much so that he was writing a book about the interface between aliens and the world’s religions. To be honest, in forty years of MH nursing his was the only case of an individual who spoke about UFO’s and alien contact. A belief in the supernatural or aliens doesn’t indicate mental illness although I do wonder about some of those I encounter in the world of the strange and unusual. This particular chap lost his career, marriage and home because of his beliefs and associated behaviours, sadly often involving the police and other agencies. He often presented as irritable, could be extremely rude and he would refuse to meet with me or other staff at times and he did eventually disengage from community services. On one particular winter afternoon just as it was turning dusk, we met up and went for a walk as he preferred to talk outside away from the listening devices he said was at home (Alexa anyone?). This was before mobile phones and the internet. As we walked along his street he suddenly announced “Street lights switch off when I walk past and I have to be careful. It’s the device they’ve implanted in me”. As we walked past each street lamp each one switched off and it did this along the length of the street on our side only and the same when we turned the corner into another street. All the other lights were on as were various house and shop lights…This happened on only one occasion and to this day I remain flummoxed by the incident.

I worked briefly on an inner city adult acute admissions ward, one that was known for violent incidents and a rapid turnover of staff and I was there as an agency staff nurse. Several incidents come to mind but I’ll tell the tale of an extremely dense doctor and I learnt a salutary lesson from it. A patient from the travelling community received a visit from his extended family who had arrived after a long journey from Ireland to see him. They had requested taking him out for a meal and it was agreed that he could go out with an escort. I was on duty the following day when I was asked to provide the escort and I refused but my refusal was over ridden by the duty doctor. Despite my explanations that the family’s intended restaurant was the local pub, that the patient didn’t like me and that there might be difficulties getting him back to the ward, my objections fell on stony ground and the trip went ahead. After two hours of drunken abuse and threats from this chap and his refusal to return to the ward, I returned and called the charge nurse and duty doctor to discuss this. I also called the on-call Consultant and on-call manager. A full scale heated debate ensued with recriminations flying hither and thither but it was eventually agreed that the duty doctor was wrong to ignore staff concerns and insist on the trip especially in light of my documenting our discussion prior to leaving the ward with the patient and my objections to it. The patient…well he returned at midnight rather the worse for drink and slept off the family visit. He was discharged the following Monday as the Consultant agreed with the nursing staff that he did not require hospital admission as there appeared to be very little wrong with him! My salutary lesson, always document any concerns and to stick to my guns and refuse to engage with silly directives. 

That same ward saw a food riot one Saturday evening when what I can only describe as ‘slop’ was served for tea. Mixed veg curry made with mixed veg and a few handfuls of curry powder thrown in. We left the patients to the food riot and after fifteen minutes we suggested they clean it up and we will buy pizzas in. Same was agreed and we paid for a dozen pizzas which we all shared out. No blame attached to the patients as it was awful food and steps were taken to improve the menu and the choice of foods. This was nearly forty years ago and many in-patient units now encourage patients to buy, prepare and cook meals as part of promoting independence and avoiding institutionalisation. That MH unit closed many years ago and it was near a well known bridge known locally as suicide bridge, not the best placement. It was the unit I worked a night shift on and returning home the next morning a car reversed around the corner and ran into me. I was so tired after a busy night I said I was alright and continued to walk home which handily was only fifteen minutes walk away. I woke up after several hours sleep covered in bruises and struggled to walk so an enforced week off work but luckily no lasting damage!

I didn’t work on that unit after that incident as I secured a few weeks working in the Priory in one of their private units which really was an eye opener when comparing and contrasting with the NHS equivalent. That’s another story and an amusing one which I shall save for next time. Just relating the above memories has really opened up the floodgates and more memories, long buried and forgotten are coming back.

TTFN.