Royal Adelaide Hospital 'Short Stay' Mental Health Ward…read more
*Starts Bad And Gets Worse.*
To start with, the airconditioning is Loud and is on, full blast, 24 / 7. There is apparently no way to turn it down or off. If you have sensory issues, or find it 'too' loud, you are offered headphones. (How you're supposed to sleep with headphones on, is never mentioned.)
Talking of sleeping, the beds do not have anything resembling blankets. You have a sheet and a thin cover. Period. With a very cold AC on, 24 hrs a day. I know I wasn't the only one using towels for warmth.
The sheets and towels are also only changed when a patient leaves. Most are apparently only detained for a few days or a week. Some however are there for weeks. One lady I got to know slightly was detained for 8 weeks. Did I mention the sheets are only changed when a patient leaves? That's right, 8 weeks with the same set of sheets...
No real medical help, or even counselling, is offered. The 'hospital' is simply a short term detention facility for those with mental health issues. A place to put them until they are deemed to be sufficiently cowed (Or drugged) to be released into society once more. Basically, the adult equivalent of being sent to your room until you calm down.
The laundry facilities - Should you be fortunate enough to have a change of clothes available. Not everyone does. - are locked. You need to find a nurse and ask permission to wash your clothes. Then you need to find a nurse once more so you can change them to the dryer - and again to retrieve things once they're dry. (If you don't retrieve them they're tossed into a basket out in the dining room for anyone to help themselves to.)
Drugs, multiple times a day, are mandatory. If you try to refuse, you are physically held down, stripped and forcibly injected. (I am female. *Everything* below the waist was on view to the five (!) men in the room, the time it happened to me.)
I was given a bag containing further drugs when I left. I did not 'ask' for these drugs and I did not 'want' them. I was told I was not allowed to leave the hospital without them. No mention of anything else was made. Imagine my surprise when I received a bill, a week or so later, in the mail, for the drugs I did not ask for or want...
I won't go on about the legalized harassment that is called follow-up 'care' and basically consists of people turning up to question you, at home and work, at irregular intervals, several times a week for the next six weeks... Among other things, extremely embarassing, as they make no attempt at discretion.
Overall an extremely unpleasant experience.
Signed
An ex-patient who is now scared to seek help for her problems because she is afraid of ending up back in 'hospital' again.