And I’ve got a good GP, she’s very, very good, lovely lady, doctor, Mrs. [name], and she has told me if I’ve got any problem to come and tell her, and she will try to deal with it. Sometimes a carer company will try their luck by trying to cut down on certain services, then, as soon as I notice it, I said, hold on what are you trying to do? Then there’s a bit of argument, then I tell them look I don’t want to argue, are you going to do it or not? If you’re not going to do it, I know how I can make you to do it, and then all that I do is ring the GP, and the GP rings up, that’s it problem solved, you know, this is it.

How did you get that good relationship with your GP?

Well firstly when we registered with the GP she was a lovely lady, and also we are from Sri Lanka, we respect the doctors and everybody, we don’t throw our weight about, you know, we respect them, and if you respect them and treat somebody kindly they will reciprocate. I remember once I went to the surgery, and there was a new receptionist, so I nicely asked her, she said, ‘why are you nice to us, normally people are nasty, we are a bit puzzled’, you know, that sort of a business? So we built up over the years a very good relationship, you know, so no problem, and also I read in the newspapers Gps and some of the doctors, their job is quite stressful, people come along and tell them the tale of woe and the problems. And I read some statistics that half of them become alcoholics, drug addicts, suffer from mental illness, so that sort of a business. So you also have to understand, they have problem as well, you know, but she’s good. Tomorrow she leaves, and if we get another GP whos not very good, then I go and change it, I’m not going to put up with it, yeah.

So you’ve got some contact, and talk with you etc, so it’s that help in the home to stop you going into hospital, but you try and access that and it’s, you know, impossible. Or one of them will say, you go to casualty because you’ve taken an overdose, wait for about six hours for a psychiatric assessment and then they’ll say, ‘oh yeah we’ll get the crisis team in. They’ll come round tomorrow. Then you think, and that’s your only hope, that’s his only hope. And that’s, -he’s focusing on that. ‘Someone’s coming to see me tomorrow. So you get through the next 24 hours, sedatives and, well ‘someone’s, be coming soon, let’s see what they say. And then nobody comes. And then you phone them up and they say, ‘oh no, it’s not, we’re not down, we have to do our own assessment. And then they’ll come and then they’ll see, and then they’ll look and they go, ‘oh well you’ve got the carer support worker that comes. You’ve got Crossroads that come. You go to the project on a Friday so you don’t need our help. You’ve got support. I think, ‘no, he’s entitled to that support’, -doesn’t mean to say he’s not entitled to crisis resolution team as well, just because he’s got some support. So some of them will try and fob you off as soon as they think you’ve got any support whatsoever. So don’t be ashamed to, you’re entitled to, whatever service you’re entitled to, you are entitled to it. Don’t let somebody condemn you because you’re getting some support, you’re entitled to more.

She started talking about feeling depressed and that’s what I was, -this is what I’ve been told and she’d been moved from home, well not homes, it’s not homes any more, it was residential care from different places to different places, she hates changes, and only to find out that, you know, as soon as she’s moved and in new environment, she becomes quite agitated and with her being agitated and upset she’s been given medication and she’s gone through lots and lots of different psychologists and psychiatrists. She never really stayed with one particular one for a number of years, it was always different, different ones, therefore medication was added and GPs added this and added that until things got really, really bad up until two years ago when I came, well when I was, -when I decided well I need to take part in this and see what’s really going on because I had my own issues, I’d been divorced after all that and I was sorting out my life and only just to realise that she was in a state, it was, I mean an utter and total state with medication. By the time I sat down with the carers who were caring for her, the, -the Social Services who were caring for her and found out about the medication and her notes and got all her notes together, what I could get together, I was absolutely mortified at the amount of, eh, medication that she was taking. She was on at least 12 different medications. I have lists of them at home and…

What kind of medication, were they sedatives or…

There were sedatives, there were Haloperidol, there was -all kinds, I’m only getting used to some of the names of them but there was masses and masses of medication and the medication had turned her into a virtual zombie. She’d ballooned up to size, eh, to over 22 stones, she’s unable to do anything for herself and she was just totally comotised and it wasn’t until I stepped in and said, well what’s all this about, why are people giving her medication, what’s the diagnosis? It was that kind of stuff that I had to get in there and try to find out and I, -there was lots of stuff I had to sit down and say well, hold on now, why is this being given to her at this particular time, what’s the diagnosis? I even met with officials, you know, and tried to get a clear understanding of, something had gone wrong because the final stages was, is that the people who were caring for her, who were kind of looking about her interests were saying, and some of the, one of the last psychiatrists that she’d seen had saying, ‘I’m sorry she’s on a cocktail of drugs that she shouldn’t really be on. Now this is what he said to me so inevitably they decided well, we have to do something about her and take her off all this medication and wean her off all this medication so we can find out what the situation is. So, you know, it’s, -when I’m trying to say, well somebody must be responsible for all this.

And the other thing is where they can pick it up early is at the Gps surgery. How many GPs are aware of mental health? How many are qualified? It’s a minority, absolute minority. If they did their job properly they can pick this up very early. Early intervention is worth it you know, thousands and thousands of pounds when it comes to doing calculation on the disasters those thing cause. You can pick it up early and treat it early and stop the nonsense. You see, Gps are self employed people. They only do what pays them better. They don’t know or they are not interested, not really interested in mental health. Those who are, are excellent. I know a few who are absolutely marvellous. But this is the problem we have.

And that’s really what you’ve got to remind yourself. And because obviously the ideal situation is to be able to work in a team with, -but to be more involved, I think I would, you know, and probably they would think I have been very involved, because I involve myself, but I would have liked more, much more. I mean you only see the psychiatrist once every six months. I know you can see him if you feel there is a problem, but we don’t. And, you know, I think, ‘I wish they had more time. Which is something obviously they can’t do much about that, but I wish they had more time, really. So. Because I know that the next stage will be to -probably when he sees next the psychiatrist, he’s going to say ‘you are stable now, so now, next stage, you are going to be on to the Gp, I’m not terribly happy with that, because I feel, -it’s not that I feel, you know, that he sees the psychiatrist once every six months, he gets his tablets, but so it’s not, but I feel if there is anything new that could happen, it’s not going to be through the GP, it’s going to be through the psychiatrist. And I feel, -because at the moment I go and collect his tablets, because otherwise he would not go, but so I feel really I am not too happy about that, but we’ll see how it goes.