The Bridge Centre, Basingstoke

After waiting almost a year to see them. I received their report it was full of inaccuracies, words I had never even said. If your suicidle they dont care what do they do refer you back to your local GP.

No wonder there are so many suicides these days. People are not getting the support they so desperately need.

The whole of Hampshire crisis and mental health teams should be ashamed of themselves.

My wife has been a patient with the Bridge Centre for over SIX months. At best they are incompetent and negligent. They are an overpaid suicide watch service! They have FAILED to create a treatment plan to teach my wife coping mechanisms for her mental health issues, the FAIL to attend meetings or phone when arranged, and the Psychiatrist has prescribed drugs that conflict with my wifes high blood pressure and heart issues, both drug treatments putting her life at serious further risk! The Psychiatrist is supposed to call regularly to assess my wifes progress, but her last appointment in December was cancelled, so it has been over 2 months since last contact!!

The Bridge Centre manager needs to be SACKED! The word 'manager' in the job title is an indicator of the job responsibilities and those are being FAILED.

The Psychiatrist prescribing drugs with any due diligence for pre-existing conditions should have his licence to practice psychiatry and prescribe drugs terminated, and face charges of gross negligence!

In desperation my wife called iTalk, who immediately suggested CBT treatment and other ideas for coping mechanisms (within 1 weeks and two telephone calls). Sadly my wife cannot proceed until she is signed off the list with the above bunch of useless idiots!!!

Having fought to get reassessed after a lot of fobbing off the assessment was the same as the first, not heard from them in months, don’t listen and the assessment write up painfully inaccurate and not worth the paper is written on. Couldn’t even be bothered to argue this one filed in the bin and given up with them.

If you don’t fit into a neat little box they don’t listen and can’t get professional to accept I may have some insight into my own mental health.

Let down again left to cope on my own again and to be honest, don’t even see the point in talking to them anymore.

I was extremely very lucky to get under the support of the bridge centre in basingstoke via NHS funding.

I have reoccurrent depression & have really been struggling these past couple of months.

I have just completed my 2nd session of CBT group therapy & am extremely grateful for the help & all the "tools" I'm being given to make life a lot less difficult & dull than it currently is.

The only thing that I'm not happy about is that I have now seen 2 different Doctors/psychiatrists instead of being under & seeing the same one every time, which I thought would have been the case the very 1st time I attended but unfortunately it was not.

Not many people find it easy/ let alone want to & have to explain (every time the doctor/psychiatrist changes) to numerous doctors/psychiatrists the reason as to why they are there & I am one of them.

I would really like & appreciate it if I was given only 1 Doctor/psychiatrist that I could stick with & that I will be guaranteed to see every time I have an appointment there as having to start over again each time they're different, as to why I am under the Bridge Centre & all the difficulties I am having in life, I really don't like doing.

I find it fairly difficult to open up as it is & have always bottled up my problems so far for 34 years, so having to start over and over again explaining why I'm such a mess & can't deal with all the stress, heartache & rubbish I have in my life to a different person each time I have an appointment really is frustrating.

On the other hand it is nice to know that I am under the best place in Basingstoke to help me, instead of being stuck with awful I-Talk who really don't know their butt cheeks from their faces, let alone be experienced enough to help people with serious mental health problems & that's after you've been on their waiting list for almost 2 years!!

With the CBT group therapy I am currently doing once a week for 6 weeks, it is really nice that it's only a small group with 6 of us including myself, so it's not so scary & uncomfortable when you have to speak and it is also very comforting to know that you are not alone in your battles, that we are all somewhat in the same boat & are there for one another if needed.

My regular consultant psychiatrist left after supporting me for almost 4 years. We had a very good rapport, and a great support network set up between myself, my family and my consultant. Everything was working perfectly.

I was moved over to a new consultant, and that caused great anxiety for me as i do not cope well with change. I was assured by my previous consultant that he would leave notes to make sure the set up i had would not change as it was stable and working well.

Surprise surprise!

This new consultant completely ripped apart everything i had to support me beforehand, created so much stress for me that i have now gone back to harming myself after 4 years clear, and i recently ended up in the general hospital after overdosing. My mood is dropping fast and i have very little support.

I have tried to tell everyone at the Bridge Centre (including the consultant) that things needed to stay as they were, but no one has listend to me, or it seems, to the notes my previous consultant said he had left!

I am now drifting backwards in regards to my mental health and no one is bothered at the Bridge Centre.

I have been given a CPN, who i have only seen twice and i have just been informed that my new conultant is moving departments. So i now have no consultant, and a CPN that i cannot speak to. The crisis team/out of hours team are beyond a joke, and i wouldn't even waste my time calling them for help. Their standard response when you call them is either "Have a cup of tea", "Have a hot bath", or "What do you want me to do?".

The staff at the Bridge Centre have destroyed all my progress over the last 4 years by simply not listening to me.

I have never know a service that has very little interest in helping and supporting people with mental health issues and which have suicidal intentions and wants to end their life. When you phone for support the answers you get from the crisis team is 'What do you want us to do, Dismiss what you say, read a book or going home and discuss it with your Doctor on the next appointment' so you are left days or weeks with no help and support from anyone. When l have been in A&E from a overdose hoping to die you are promised you will receive help and support from the Crisis team weather it is from the Bridge Centre or Parklands and all you have is broken promises and most of the time nothing ever gets followed up by anyone. People promise to phone you back and know one does after a A&E discharge. They are rude at times and puts alot of the problems back on the patient and leaves you feeling like its all your fault. Parklands staff are just as bad. My Doctor is the only person that cares about my future.

For many years the Bridge Centre was of very little help to my bipolar/manic depressive daughter. It was a case of change to unsuitable medication and no more appointments under the consultant she had been seeing which resulted in two in-patient treatment for several weeks. At last, eighteen months, ago a new consultant took her on and what a difference. He has found suitable medications, sees her every few weeks, and we can call upon a Psychiatric nurse from the centre for advice if required. My daughter is a new person!

After waiting since May last year to get any assistance, it was recommended after many visits to the doctors and chasing via phone that I was `lucky` to be seen.

I was handed 6 bits of paper to work through....

No parking, absolutely disgusting how someone with problems can be `boxed` into a hole and labelled without any proper help or treatment.

The Parklands centre also was less than useless and surprise surprise the original (excuse) for a Dr who said he had diagnosed me had left.... after calling the police on me.... the police said it was disgusting how he goaded me on the phone and no charges were bought.

The NHS is a sham also the muppets that control it are out of touch. I am now suing the Southern NHS for institutional neglect.... I suggest you do the same.

I don't know even where to begin with this review. The support and treatment for my partner from the bridge centre has been absolutely dire and left our whole family in crisis and still we are waiting for some help. My partner who has PTSD from horrific historical abuse was placed under the care of the crisis team at the beginning of April 2015. After 3 weeks he was transferred to the care of the bridge and assigned a care coordinator. We have only seen this person 4 times during these incredibly long months and my partner still remains trapped in his own home and unable to go outside of his front door. We have written letters, made phonecalls, requested psychological assessments and still NOTHING has been put in place to help him move on. I would like somebody to tell me what we are meant to do? This is now affecting our whole family dynamic to the point I was referred to the bridge centre for depression. Waited 3 months for an assessment and told there was nothing they could do to help. Where is the care in the community? Where is the parity of esteem between mental and physical health? Where is the heeding to the NICE guidelines? Where is the supporting the client in their journey of recovery? Maybe, just maybe you need to listen to what people are saying to you because I truly believe that people are dying because as a service you JUST DONT GET IT!

After being promised by the Bridge center, a call to further my assessment, I waited in vain for two or three weeks. Eventually I phoned them and was promised, by the erstwhile 'Prudence', a return call... which never came. I waited a few days and called again and was again promised by Prudence, a return call... which never came. I began phoning every day and was told time and again, by Prudence, I should wait by the phone for a call... which never came.

Eventually I gave up and frankly came damn near to hanging myself. I returned to my G.P. who contacted them and eventually they eventually deigned to return my call.

I have no doubt at all that the desk clerk, who would be more suited to working for British Telecom, was exercising her passive aggressive instincts and confusing her role with one which her personal feelings were required for.

She and every NHS employee who believes they have a right to impose their personal feelings on service users, simply because they have nowhere else to go, should be quickly and cleanly disposed of.

Thank you Prudence and may the pathway of your life be strewn with cow-pats.