‘The ward seemed like a correctional facility’: How my child was devastated by a health service intended to assist her
It became apparent to me in that pivotal moment that the mental health unit where my child was staying had all the trappings of a secure institution.
Ruth had been completely trusting. So had we. That the situation transformed the day she was moved from our nearby medical center to Thames Ward at the mental health center in the region.
When we said goodbye, she walked so easily down to the medical vehicle with me and the child therapist – who held her close and said goodbye.
The moment the vehicle door opened at the treatment center, the clinical facility appeared formidable. We were received by staff who escorted us up a staircase through multiple secured entries, with each door locking completely behind us as the key holder waited for confirmation of locking before unlocking the next.
The unit was hermetically sealed and without windows, with my eyes quickly straining from the intense clinical lighting. We were brought to a glass-enclosed space that staff nicknamed the “goldfish bowl”.
The Devastating Separation
I felt her fingers tighten in mine as they informed my leaving was required. My protest about not settling her in was responded to by the regulation that “guardians are not permitted the ward.”
After asking again, they permitted me a quick viewing to her room, but demanded I exit promptly afterward, citing hospital regulations.
To this day, I awaken during the night with my heart racing anxiously while reliving that walk through the shared space to Ruth’s allocated area. The area contained only a individual cot and basic furnishings, with fixed glass.
The explanations faded away as they informed me about the constant observation by rotating staff. I put her bag on the ground, while Ruth sat frightened on the bed before I was ushered out.
Abruptly, I was sealed outside the locked entrances, grasping a paper that specified I could visit my daughter for just sixty minutes, only on two occasions each week.
How could I have agreed to this?
A Devastating Outcome
{Our daughter, our girl, succumbed on 14 February 2022 at 6:29 PM on the paediatric intensive care unit at John Radcliffe hospital in the city. She was transferred urgently from Huntercombe hospital, an NHS commissioned but commercially operated children’s mental health center, where she had been not prevented from fatal self-injury previously.|Our Ruth passed away on Valentine’s Day 2022 at 18:29 in the {pediatric intensive care unit|
