Care Crisis Lobby

A few weeks ago I received an email from Rethink Mental Illness, inviting all supporters to participate in the CareCrisis Lobby at Westminster on March 6^th. My motivation now is to do all I can to support people with Mental Illness and their carers because I have seen the problems from the inside, and have seen how unsupported they are.

The current Welfare Bill, in my view, reduces the level of support for vulnerable people and make things worse for them, so I signed on the dotted line and went along.

I secured an appointment with my MP, and considered what points I should put to him. I decided the main points would be around adequate care plans for discharge, on-going support after discharge, the benefit forms which do not adequately cater for mental illness, the inadequacy of policing of the Mental Health Service by the CQC, lack of response to physical issues whilst mentally ill, and lack of dignity and basic care all too often seen on the acute wards. A big agenda, but it is a big subject.

I arrived in London and went to the Care Crisis lobby meeting, where I told my story “for the records” was interviewed about why I was there, what I wanted to achieve, and met many wonderful people all fighting the same causes.

From there I went to the Rethink meeting, down the road, where I was again greeted as a long lost friend. I was allocated a support worker to look after me for the afternoon in Westminster Hall. It was my first experience of this kind of event and although I felt confident of my subject and what I wanted to say, I was now feeling a bit daunted, so I really appreciated this support.

The Rethink Team took all of us with appointments across to Westminster Hall and did so much to get people to practice their questions if they wanted to, to explain what was going on and to generally keep everyone relaxed and calm.

I was, I think, privileged. Although my MP had contacted me the day before to say that sadly he could not keep the appointment, his PA would meet me if I was happy with that.

I met the PA, with my Rethink Supporter, in the Central Lobby, rather than in Westminster Hall, and despite the grandeur of the setting, it was more comfortable for me, and I was able to spend nearly 50 minutes talking to her, putting my points, without being interrupted or side-tracked. I was really delighted with the meeting and she took pages of notes which she promised to discuss with the MP at the first opportunity.

After the meetings, the Rethink group gathered to go back to the Care Crisis event, where I was again interviewed to compare what I had wanted to achieve with what I had achieved.

After that, I was enjoying a hard earned coffee, ok my third, after all that talking in Westminster, when  I was approached and asked if I was me… I confirmed that I was and was told “We’ve been watching your tweets go up, and wanted to talk to you for some quotes”, so I was happy to do another interview.

From there, I went back to the Rethink Meeting Room for a debrief on the events of the afternoon.

I had a really good day, was looked after so well by the Rethink Staff and encouraged and made to feel welcome at all times by everyone I met. It made for a really interesting and rewarding day for me.

The main point, of course, is whether the government will take notice of what everyone told them, it is probably too early to know that, but I have heard from my MP that he is going to take up a number of the points for me, and the overall feedback I have heard has been very positive.

I would like to thank Rethink for providing me, and hundreds more, this opportunity to put our concerns to our MP’s. This is such a huge and important debate and I was so delighted to be involved, and make my points heard by people who can actually have an impact on the bill.