The parents of a 29-year-old man with ongoing mental health problems say they are “waiting for news that he is dead” following what they describe as a period of “repeated and quick” discharges from Bluestone Unit, Craigavon and the withdrawal of medication.
The pair, from Craigavon, have been supporting their adult son’s mental health journey for approximately eight to nine years.
Over the last nine years the young man has been detained on numerous occasions under the Mental Health Act at the Bluestone Unit based at Craigavon Area Hospital.
The unit cares for around 800 patients a year, many of whom feel suicidal and are often grappling with complex problems, from drug and alcohol addiction to eating and perinatal disorders, and is under the remit of the Southern Health & Social Care Trust.
During that time they say he enjoyed a period of relative stability thanks to the receipt of regular care and medication to support his original diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
So stable was he, that he went on to complete a Masters Degree in 2023. He also managed to stay out of hospital for his longest period in seven years.
However, since receiving a new diagnosis of personality disorder and, as a result, having his medication withdrawn, they say their beloved son is now at “crisis point”, experiencing manic episodes, speaking to himself, spending his savings, becoming destructive and erratic and going missing from wards on numerous occasions.
The young man – who lives alone in Banbridge – even went missing for a period of three days. His parents say he was found by police in East Belfast, dehydrated and missing his belongings.
Speaking to Armagh I, his mother explained: “They are trying to say that he has capacity so we can’t do anything and Trasna House don’t do anything but he’s not at capacity. We have been fighting and fighting this for months.”
His father added: “It’s only this year that his previous consultant retired and since the new consultant took over it’s been a nightmare. We always felt Bluestone were alright. He always came out back to himself again. This time around he has no medication or anything, he’s just left there.”
“The last time he was in he came out with no shoes. We don’t know where they were, they didn’t look for them, they just put him out,” added his mum.
“We have documented everything. All the times and dates of incidents over the last four months.”
What they want is for their son to be detained on a ward where he will receive “proper” treatment. They truly believe he should not be treated as a voluntary patient as he “does not know how sick he is”.
Of their son, they said: “He’s never been in trouble with police, he doesn’t take drugs or drink. He’s a good soul.
“But do you know what we’re waiting on? We are waiting on the police coming to the door and saying he’s dead.”
His mum added: “He’s left alone. They don’t know if he feeds himself, they don’t go near him and they said he won’t answer his phone.
“Thank God he has a good neighbour where he is but even they are getting fed up now.
“It’s been pure neglect from start to finish.”
When contacted for comment a spokesperson for the Southern Health & Social Care Trust said: “Whilst we are unable to comment on any individual patient, we can confirm that there has been significant ongoing contact between Trust staff and this patient/their family.
“Our dedicated mental health staff are very experienced in professionally assessing people with complex conditions and offering intervention as required, based on clinical need.
“We encourage any patient/family member with concerns about our services to contact our Service User Feedback team so that each concern/complaint can be fully investigated and responded to.”
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