Ivetsey Bank Hospital | Active Care Group - Stafford

JasonYTReal

I was there for a good two weeks some staff were an absolute peices of you know what. Nearly broke my bicep I lost my bloody headphones when they were packing to send me to the new ward but I'm gonna give it 3 because at the same there were some awesome staff and even this girl I met in unit

Staff that I wanna shout out that have played a huge part in my on going recovery is Jade And Charlotte

Charlotte Helped Me With A Panic That I had woken up one morning when one of the patients there was kicking and I just wanted to sleep and I had hit my breaking point nearly went nuts Charlotte helped me out

And Jade was Just Being Jade You know if you need something she will be honest and will try and help even at her busiest so I'm honestly grateful and ill never forget that

Jay E.

I stayed on the Thorneycroft unit for 13 months. I picked up on some horrible habits from HCSWs. Chewing gum, kissing their teeth at patients (seen as a sign of aggression), not bare below elbows ( risk of infection and against infection control policies), leaving patients self harming because they were talking, talking about patients in the office ( not in a positive manner, “bitching” so to speak, not letting patients go outside which is our RIGHT, talking about patients on observations from our ward and different wards. However the small amount of positive came from Lisa LC, the psychologist and assistant psychologist, and some (not all) of the nurses. Lisa supported me through flashbacks and incidents when I needed it. I struggle with CPTSD which can cause me to lash out sometimes if I am scared and the matron put it all down to BEHAVIOUR. I was treated as a naughty child when I was struggling. Threatened with holds when having an incident. I was left in my room with blood on the walls after them not cleaning it and leaving my incidents down to behaviour yet again when I was actually struggling. I don’t think staff have a basic understanding of autism. I know they are trained about it but it doesn’t mean they take anything in. I was left having a meltdown in my room and all they would say is that I need to grow up and stop “acting like a baby”. I don’t know why it is still open as it is a neglectful, threatening environment.

Isha G.

My sister was admitted to this hospital in March and has been released in August, she came in at 27kg and left at a healthy weight. We were reluctant at first because of the negative reviews we saw but we gave it a chance and we are all so thankful that the staff were able to save my sisters life and teach her about so many things including healthy meal plans, how the body works, they have brought my sister a lot of comfort on the days she felt alone by playing games together.

I have met the staff many times and they have been so kind and helpful, I know that the family therapists are also great. My sister did struggle with the meals that were prepared as she missed south Asian food but they were very understanding and had us bring in our home cooked food and added vegetables to it, they also let us eat meals together and when she struggled to finish they gave her a few minutes before giving her supplements instead of immediately forcing it.

They are also pet friendly as we have brought our family cat to the hospital a couple of times and he has his paw print on the motivational post.

There is also a lot of parking and reception staff are also very friendly,

I know that the two buildings are separated for patients who may self harm & for those who don’t, my prayers go to both 🙌🏻

Calne C.

I was horrifically physically and mentally abused by staff here as a little girl back in 2014. I still have PTSD from this place. I feel for the vunerable thorneycroft ward patients throughout these years. A lot of us know what you did. Evil place

Molly H.

This place is hell, don’t let your loved ones come here.
I was there for almost 9 months.
There was some good staff but the majority of the good staff left.

Staff will say nasty things about other patients to other staff whilst they’re on your1-1.
Staff ignored me and acted like I wasn’t even there whilst on my 1-1 , and would talk between themselves about me in third person. Which is dehumanising.

There was no privacy, so all self harm incidents happened in communal areas which led to patients picking up self harm techniques, and more self harm overall. This could’ve been avoided.

On my first day I went to the dining room to get some water, they locked me in, they shouted at me over and over to “stop crying!” Whilst I was begging them to let me out. And they said “your distressing other patients” and so I told them to “let me out” but they wouldn’t for a long time. After this I didn’t go into the dining room for months because I was too scared they would lock me in.
And therefore they wouldn’t let me drink water, despite how thirsty I was, and told me I had to go to the dining room if I wanted water.
This really confused me as a patient with anorexia because it encouraged fluid restriction, and although fluid restriction was not a behaviour part of my eating disorder, I know this can be an eating disorder behaviour for other people, so therefore refusing to let me drink was encouraging further disordered behaviours.
Also I think that it’s somewhat disordered to only ever drink in the dining room, as at home it’s not normal to only ever drink water when you’re in a dining room. What about when your at school? Its not healthy to not drink all day whilst at school.
As a result of this even years later I panic when I’m in a room that is locked or I can’t get out of quickly.

One nurse wouldn’t give me enough water to take my medication in, As a result of this medication would get stuck in my throat and become painful. One day this happened and I asked for gaviscon and she told me “you can’t have acid reflux you haven’t eaten” which is altogether incorrect, but another thing she did to attempt to deny my expierience and to cause me both avoidable and unnecessary pain.

The same nurse told me that if I didn’t eat (despite being fully ng fed for months) that she’d give me more of my feed than I was meant to have; she used ng feeding as a punishment.following this I was really distressed, where she shouted at staff who were on my 2-1 and told them “just let her do it” (self harm) and told them “it’s her own fault. Which further added to the belief I had that I deserved pain. And it was also against my care plan to not intervene.

The same nurse grabbed my head during a restraint and pulled it so far back that I couldn’t breathe, and I told her this and she wouldn’t stop, she told me “stop moving then”
I still get nightmares about this almost 7 years later.

Certain Staff would commonly say “your treating this as a holiday camp” which was just incorrect, at the time all of us were sectioned, if we could’ve left we would’ve done it in a heart beat. No one wanted to be there it was traumatising.

I don’t think the treatment here was ever about heath, I think it was about control.

Howether, I can thank the ot’s enough in particular Chantelle, I don’t think I would’ve ever made it out of there if it wasn’t for her.

Candice

I would never recommend this place for your dependent loved ones.
My son, was trying to defend a girl who was being illegally restrained hence was overcome and left dribbling unconscious for 2 days. Stafford social services concluded it was justified. He was almost 17 yrs old at the time.
I live in Stafford and the SW at the time was called Ruth porter.

Michele D.

Absolutely awful place for young people with mental health issues.
Unsafe, shocking ‘care,’ unfit for purpose.
Why is this hospital still open? look at the repeated CQC reports!!! Is it going to take a fatality before this hell hole is closed?

Elíse C.

Horrible place, I wouldn’t even give this place 1 star if I could. I was here for months, felt like I had no support, over medicated, restraints were not needed as they don’t try to de-escalate before hands on. Place was dirty, flies trapped in windows, dirty dishwashers with mould, water fountain also filled with mould, sinks were full of dirty water and plates. This place caused me so much more trauma than I went in with, the patients had to deal with each others incidents. Horrible place, please close it down CQC we cannot let this place still be open. They discharged my friend too early with no support and months later she took her own life. The food was also disgusting, they did not care what we was eating. So many things were wrong. This place is awful… Pictures inserted below: