Bury CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services) - Bury

Amanda C.

Absolutely appalling, at 6 my child was asked if they wanted to kill themselves directly in their first initial consultation!!!!
I was completely gobsmacked at no tackfulness, or professionalism!!
He was later diagnosed with autism and adhd by a different service.
Now my daughter has an assessment appointment with CAMHS. My child and I have read the other reviews, we know we are not alone in how we feel.
I do not want to take her, but the crux is if she needs help /medication, she can only get it from them.
I feel sick with worry, triggered that we'll be fobbed off again like we were with my son, to yet another training course for me/her, without any immediate support. Later with my son, CAMHS told the specialist independent school he just started, that they were most suitable to support him as they had no concerns. Turned out that this school was abusing him and falsifying records.
I've had two phone calls to book this appointment for my daughter, now a letter with a completely different date.
PALS are no help, my daughters previous lost referral... CAMHS had received it by email as theyd requested, they acknowledged it, but somehow it was our fault and we were added to the bottom of the waiting list as it hadnt beem processed!!
No clear explanation what happened to the paperwork I'd emailed in PALS response and now many months later, we receive an appointment!
The whole service needs ripping out and outsourced privately, funded by NHS.

RR W. W.

I am literally in tears writing this so please excuse me if I rant. But here goes.

My 15 year old son suffers with extreme mental health problems. We was referred to camhs for help. One of my son's mental health problems is he suffers with social anxiety the outside world scares him so much that the thought of travelling outdoor to go meet complete strangers will have him actually vomiting with anxiety, that's just one of his mental health issues, he has much more. Each time an appointment would come around he got his self so worked up over it I couldn't get him through the door, CAMHS decided they could do a home visit and would be in touch. One morning around 8.30am they called to say they was on their way, no letter no reminders nothing. They have a habit of saying they have sent letters out when they haven't , I even told them to email me appointments and not to send letter as it seemed to be I never receive their letters, they agreed and said my preferred method of contact is now through email, however they never emailed me at all! My son needs weeks of warnings and reminders of what's up and coming and lots of explanations, I told them it's not possible for me to go and drag him out of his bed like this. The lady agreed and said she would be in touch. I heard nothing, my son's mental health became desperate, he was talking about taking his life, I rang my g.p and asked for help, he said 100% he agrees he needs help and he'd like to get my son started asap on medication, and he'd like to offer his support and monitoring over The next few months (he showed more concern than anyone ever has at camhs) he said he's going to message CAMHS and put his views to them to see if he can start him on medication, I was so relieved that my son was finally going to get help. His GP has rang us every single week since that initial phone call to check how my son is and to check on his progress. My relief was short lived because CAMHS sent me a letter, a very nasty letter infact, saying they won't be coming to my home to do a visit ever again as my son wouldn't see them on the morning they randomly turned up and If I want them to see my son he has to travel to them a hour away on public transport (not a option) and this is the really sad part they said and I quote " SHOULD MY SONS DOCTOR PRESCRIBE HIM ANY MEDICATION THEY WILL FIND OUT AND THEY WILL TAKE MEASURES TO ENSURE THAT THAT DOCTOR IS STRUCK OFF!" I am absolutely livid, so rather than letting my son's GP try him on some medication they would rather he remained suicidal! If anything happens to my son I will hold CAMHS accountable for this, no empathy at all. I have to ask myself this, if it was their child would they act differently? Whenever I speak with anyone from camhs I'm always left feeling like I'm annoying them, or they're annoyed that I rang, they can't get you off the phone fast enough! If anybody would like to see the letter where they have threatened to have my GP struck off if he helps my son then please message me, I am looking into taking this to the media if anybody is interested in getting my story out there please message me also. This is disgusting behavior from people who's supposed to be treating minors with mental health problems. We are now left waiting until he's legally a adult so his GP can start him on medication, Im absolutely terrified he won't even make it to adulthood!

Ava B. H. C.

Pointless service my child has extreme mental health been referred 3 times and refused to be seen.. though they have taken my other child who has same problems but not as extreme . When speaking to manegers ect just spoken down to and patronised . Need to go back to Manchester cahms as bury is bad for everything to do with the council . Skimping funds

Kieron N.

Absolutely appalling sent me a letter to say my child had missed an appointment even though I had never received an appointment to which they said they would send another appointment date,they then sent me another letter stating i hadn't been in contact to arrange another appointment along with confidential info for another patient and when i phoned to discuss this they had the audacity to ask me to post the information along to the other patient whose letter i had received along side my own childs. The receptionist I spoke with was no help and seemed disinterested. Someone within this service is clearly not doing their job correctly and sending someone another patients confidential information needs sacking immediately. Not impressed at all

Izabelle L.

if i could provide 0 stars i would do, if you are a parent that cares remotely for your child’s wellbeing and mental health - AVOID. was under CAHMS for 2 years as a teenager to which they
- broke safe guarding protocol multiple times by allowing my abuser in the room, didn’t report the abuse to the police, even told my abuser what i’d reported so i ended up being abused more severely.
- no support, no help with self harm issues because they couldn’t visibly see my self harm. i now have permanent nerve damage which wouldn’t have happened if they’d helped.
- discharge letter acknowledged i needed help “addressing” the abuse i was enduring or id need access to adult mental health services for the rest of my life - surprise, 7 years later and i do.

AVOID AVOID AVOID evil workers, don’t care at all, not professionals or have any appropriate training. none of them know what they’re doing beyond traumatising your children.

Lynsey L.

My son has had appointments with cahms on 2 separate occasions the first was march 2022 in my opinion they haven't offered my son any help really all they have done is just asked for information. I do understand that there is a long waiting list but my son is getting worse and is spending too much time on his own I just don't know what to do

Kat

Bury's youth mental health services are a huge let down and offered no help when I reached out years ago. Never listened to me when I tried to explain my concerns about my child. If had help years ago would have made a huge difference. Unless you tick every box they don't want to know. I never felt that anyone really cared who I spoke to. Not one of them. Waste of time.

kate F.

I spent a few months on this ward between 2021 and 2022 and the amount of help and support i received has helped me so much. The team works really well together in helping patients on there pathways to recovery and the ward is very up to date and modern. Staff manage crisis point very well in a calm manor which helps de escalate situations and are very good at dealing with physical health issues (contacting doctors and following/creating care plans around diagnoses). i really don’t think i could fault this ward they did everything they possibly could to give me the best treatment.