Cliff fall man ‘failed by health services’
Monday 28th February 2011, 2:30PM GMT.
GUERNSEY’S mental health services have been accused of failing Alderney postman Jamie Spandler.
A friend of the 44-year-old family man said he desperately sought help for depression before his death after a difficult cliff-top rescue in Alderney.
Guernsey police said after his death that Mr Spandler (pictured) had been receiving treatment for mental health issues since 2009 and was at that stage under investigation for a criminal matter.
Mr Spandler’s friend, Clare Cotton, had previously warned that islanders could die unless the Bailiwick’s mental health facilities improved.
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I’ve had the experience of being with my wife whilst she has been under the care of Guernsey mental health and also the English mental health, There is a lot of differences between the two and if people think Guernseys will end with people dying then its outstanding that anyone in England is still alive. Guernsey mental health far surpasses the standards of England’s mental health service its like saying travel inn is the same as the Ritz. People need to appreciate what they have and realise Guernsey Mental health is out standing in what it does and the difficulty in treating someone with a mental health problem does not stop with the health worker cpn etc in goes home and needs to be spearheaded in the core by the family and loved ones.
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Just leave the family alone
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This is not about the family or indeed the individual. This is referring to the HSSD and about lack of support that Alderney residents have easy access to.
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The full printed story comes over as being overly harsh on the mental health service
The person who is complaining is obviously very upset at the loss of a friend but she may just as well blame the Crime Reduction Officer for every burglary or street brawl,or the lack of a Road safety officer for every traffic accident,or the weather forecaster for fog disruption at Alderney airport
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The mental health facilities we have on this island have been failing people for a long time.
Something needs to be done about it. Its not acceptable.
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@ Ray,
Of course we are all upset about this loss, he would probably still be in this world if the Health services didnt fail him. who cares about the rest of the stuff your listing, we just want to stop this happening again to another well liked local, the health system is utterly rubbish out of experience. they should be ashamed of themselves!
and for everyone else, well said, the family should be left alone in this time of sadness.
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After years of problems and finally having the courage to go see the mental health services I was told as long as there was not risk of me killing myself they didnt have the room for me. They agreed i needed help and told me to seek it else where. Where well you tell me?
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It is not a surprise to hear so many stories about being failed by mental health. It is a disgrace. I personally know of two cases where the treatment has been of low quality and sometimes non existant. It also comes down to finances (which the States are accountable for) It is a disgrace that whether you get the right treatment or any treatment at all comes down to cost. Can you imagine being refused treatment at the Princess Elizabeth hospital because it was too expensive. States, you should be ashamed of yourselves. There are people with serious mental health issues being failed by this appalling system in Guernsey. It will become a community problem when someone is hurt or killed by someone who has not been treated properly. I have long told probation, The Castel Hospital, Social Services and police about one person who is in urgent need of mental health treatment and they have chosen to ignore the problem because of the cost to treat them. A caring place we live in. I think not.
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hssd could probably do a bit better, without extras resources, if they were lucky and they had a spare minute to take stock and stop fire-fighting. maybe the new boss is looking at the structure, and so on.
but … the posters who realise that the service is restricted by the states budget allowance are right. the fact is that mental health services are in increasing demand all over the world, while funds are often hacked back.
it is not the fault of the mental health services that all their clients deserving of the best possible treatment do not always get that service – it is everybody’s problem, in more than one way. we all have to pay more to provide a fit for purpose service …. or … maybe we all need to look at our collective responsibility for creating a society whose dominant values mean the individual only sinks or swims.
the posters who just abuse the local menatl health service are not helpful and only undermine the dedicated front line staff.
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Doctors arent always as interested in their patients as they are their inflated fees.
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