One year on from the publication of a damning report into mental health services in Tayside, bereaved campaigners have hit out at the speed of work undertaken to address the recommendations.
The report Trust and Respect, the result of an extensive examination of how mental health is treated in the region, was published in February 2020.
It contained 51 recommendations to turnaround the ailing service.
Among the campaigners who fought for the inquiry was Mandy McLaren, who son Dale Thomson took his own life in 2015 after receiving treatment at Carseview.
She said she “cannot wait” to speak to Mr Strang again, who is due to conduct a review of progress in the coming months.
Mandy said: “Not enough is being done in my opinion.
“I worry that there’s been a lot of work in the strategy, but nothing on the ground yet.
“When the report was published a year ago, I thought we would be a lot further on by this time.
“They are saying they’re listening but I am not sure they are. I am very sceptical of what they are telling us.
“I don’t want them using coronavirus as an excuse, because if anything demand for more mental health services is going up during the lockdowns.”
Through her involvement with subgroups set up to oversee how the health board act upon the recommendations, Mandy is worried little movement is being made.
Mandy claims to have heard from relatives of patients and staff being ignored when telling management what needs to be done.
She added: “Until the things hit the ground level, there’s no real change. In the meantime, people are not getting the right treatment.
“One of the big things in the Strang report was the culture change, but that hasn’t happened as far as I can see. There’s too many people stuck in the old ways.
“Nothing seems to be moving. All that I can see that has changed is some paperwork.
“I accept paperwork can be important, but it’s not enough a year on.”
Mandy has also been working with mental health charity Perth Plus, who recently issued a survey on their website to canvas the views of people receiving care from NHS Tayside.
Talking about the survey, she said: “We want to see what people are saying so that when the health board come back and tell us certain boxes have been ticked, we can compare that to actual patient testimony and challenge them on it if need be.”
Gillian Murray, who campaigned alongside Mandy after the death of her uncle Dave Ramsay, agrees that progress has been slower than she would have liked.
She said: “The report validated concerns that myself and many others had been campaigning for about for years, in some cases decades.
“The denial, hostility and outright lies we were subjected to from NHS Tayside were rightly challenged with the Strang report and my family and other bereaved families finally received a public apology from chief executive Grant Archibald.
“A lot has changed in the world in the past year, but it appears that nothing has changed with regards to inpatient mental health services in Tayside.
“I was heartbroken to read that yet another victim of the shambolic system has lost their life while in a ‘secure’ psychiatric ward.
“Her family have now joined our very extensive club of families bereaved by Tayside mental health service failings and I can assure you, it’s not a club you want to join.
“Evidently, lessons are never learned because the same failings are repeated year-on-year, resulting in more preventable deaths and shattered families.
“I’m glad David Strang is coming back this year because I think he will be as disillusioned as we are that very little seems to have changed.
“I have witnessed the very worst of NHS Tayside mental health services and my uncle David is no longer alive as a result. I have also experienced some of the best, with an NHS psychologist who helped me to want to live again.
“The standard of care should not fluctuate as widely as this. Inpatient mental health services within Tayside are not fit for purpose.”
