IT IS all well and good to install a new chairperson for Southern Health Trust but what is needed is more funding to be able to admit and treat those people who are desperate, instead of turning them away and only admitting those who are felt to be acutely ill.
As a former nurse who has worked for Southern Health, I can tell you that the number of available beds has vastly reduced over the past 20 years, whereas the population of Southampton has increased, meaning that more people are being managed at home by community teams.
The problem is that the community teams are very overstretched and overloaded with clients that even they can not monitor them more than once or twice every two weeks.
What is needed is more funding to expand in-patient beds, more funds to employ staff and for the Trust to value their staff.
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