This is an extract from a Channel 4 series called Bedlam. This particular
episode was first broadcast on 14th November 2013, and features what
I believe is the only actual assessment under the Mental Health Act to have
been filmed.
The episode followed Jim Thurkle, an AMHP working in the
Speedwell Community Mental Health Team
in South London, as he went about his work in the community. In particular, it
focused on Rosemary, a woman with schizophrenia who had stopped taking her
medication, and was evading contact.
I have extracted the scenes involving Rosemary, including Jim’s attempts to see Rosemary and his efforts to avoid a formal assessment under the Mental Health Act and the day the inevitable assessment takes place, and edited them together. Because of patient confidentiality, the cameras are unable to follow Jim into Rosemary’s house where the assessment takes place.
You can find a link here to the review of this episode that I wrote for Community Care magazine.
From your Community Care review "This illustrated the importance of having extensive background knowledge of a service user and of building a working relationship. An AMHP seeing this woman in isolation, with no prior knowledge, might easily have detained her".
ReplyDeleteSo different now when the Home Treatment Team may never have met the patient before, never mind the AMHP they call in. The online 'records' they refer to are no substitute for localised 'institutional memory'.