‘The unit felt like a correctional facility’: The way my girl was crushed by a medical system designed to support her
It became apparent to me in that pivotal moment that the mental health unit where my daughter was admitted had all the characteristics of a jail.
Ruth had been deeply trusting. So had we. That all changed the day she was relocated from our local hospital to Thames Ward at the mental health center in the county.
When we left, she walked peacefully down to the patient transport with me and the play therapist – who hugged her tight and said goodbye.
As the medical van door opened at our destination, the imposing building appeared daunting. We were met and guided up a staircase through secured portals, with each door closing securely as the attendant waited for each lock to engage before continuing.
This was a sealed unit, lacking windows, my eyes straining quickly from the bright lighting overhead. We were taken to an central area, surrounded by glass. The monitoring zone, they called it.
The Heartbreaking Separation
I felt her fingers tighten in mine as they announced my departure was required. My question about not settling her in was met with the rule that “guardians are not permitted the treatment area.”
After asking again, they permitted me a brief look to her room, but insisted I exit promptly afterward, citing hospital regulations.
I still wake at night, heart racing as I relive those footsteps through the communal area, to Ruth’s allocated room. A single bed, a plastic table. Windows that did not open.
The voices became far away as they explained there would be a different staff member every hour through the day and night who would “monitor our daughter”. I set down her luggage on the floor. Ruth sat, frightened, on the bed and then I was led away.
Abruptly, I was sealed outside the double portals, clutching a form that specified I could spend time with my daughter for just one hour, only on two occasions each week.
How could I have allowed to this?
A Life Cut Short
{Our daughter, our child, succumbed on 14 February 2022 at 18.29 on the paediatric intensive care unit at the hospital in Oxford. She was transferred urgently from the mental health facility, an government-contracted but privately run youth psychiatric facility, where she had been not prevented from fatal self-injury 48 hours before.|Our child lost her life on the 14th of February, 2022 at 18:29 in the {pediatric intensive care unit|
