Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Suicidal woman waited 23 hours at hospitals
‘I had a total of five minutes with a medical professional’
A woman who went to hospital after two failed suicide attempts was kept waiting 23 hours and got only a fiveminute consultation.
Alice Mitchell has anorexia, depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder.
The 19-year-old took herself to Kent and Canterbury Hospital after suffering a severe relapse of her conditions in the last few months which has resulted in constant suicidal thoughts.
When she turned up she waited four hours before being briefly seen by a nurse for a five-minute consultation.
She then waited another six hours before being transferred to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford where she spent another 13 hours to see an onsite professional after being told that staff would call the police if she left.
She eventually saw someone who was unable to give her any advice and said they would refer her on to someone else – but didn’t.
When Alice, of Barton Road, Canterbury, was later discharged she had no money to get home and her phone battery had run out.
She asked if she could have transport arranged, but was told she wasn’t eligible.
She eventually borrowed a charger and called her mum who came and collected her.
Alice said: “In 23 hours I had a grand total of five minutes of face time with a medical professional.
“For the other 22 hours and 55 minutes I was sitting, completely unsupervised, in a busy waiting room where the working staff had absolutely no idea I was even there, let alone what my case was.
“I was told that if I tried to leave, they’d call the police, but because I was unsupervised, I could have walked out and thrown myself under a bus and nobody would have done anything.
“When I did get discharged I felt even more suicidal than I had when I arrived.”
Alice’s ordeal started when she went to hospital on March 13, but the case has only just come to light.
It has been made public as figures released show 169 people (7%) of those admitted to mental health hospitals run by the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust failed to receive follow-up treatment within seven
days of being discharged.
Alice, who said: “I was given no care plan and no follow up.
“The only thing they did was write to my GP advising her that I should go in for an appointment with her.
“To make matters worse, I’d been for one session of cognitive behavioural therapy but my therapist also decided to discharge me because I’d
missed a session while suicidal in hospital.
“Now I’m left without any support from mental health services. I’m back to square one.”
If you would like confidential support on an emotional issue, call Samaritans on 116 123 at any time