Prospect Park Hospital - Berkshire Healthcare - Reading

Steve B.

Trauma absolute trauma made me more suicidal and unsafe watch you go to the toilet and I told them I had separation Anxitey and they still kept me in said too me if you don’t take your meads you won’t see your mum they lied too me as well saying my mum don’t want me home when she did so I felt. Like she didn’t love me

Jamie A. (.

My mother died here, back in 2006 she committed suicide in a bathroom stall while staff were oblivious to her whereabouts due to neglect and poor response time. I was 16 months old at the time and barely knew her, sure she had issues but that's why you come to a place like this. It is appalling to see that after 18 years nothing has changed and that this place is still running the way it is.

I know nothing I do now will bring her back, and there's no point trying to take down a heartless organisation who's primary objective is to "help people", but it is unjust that she isn't even mentioned anywhere on the internet, let alone by this "hospital" who allowed this to happen. I've read her journals, and care notes and a lot of them are suspiciously missing, ones that I'd expect slander this "hospital" and its staff, whilst the only ones left are ones that depict outbursts of rage towards our family, leading them to believe that they were the problem, and of course my grandmother's repeated requests for them result in failure.

I want her to be remembered, to do her justice, so please, for your own sakes don't send any of your friends/family to this place, unless you want to put them through hell.

And for Prospect Park "Hospital": Just do better, that's all that I ask.

James X.

This is a very concerning place. If you are someone who is considering staying here, or the friend or family of someone considering, I would urge you to practice caution.

Earlier this year, my friend had an adverse reaction to new medication and decided to check himself in as an informal patient for fast treatment. He has his challenges, but he's a smart, reasonable, and discerning guy who wants to be his best for those around him.

After switching back to the previous dose and appearing to make a recovery, he was asked to stay a bit longer to see if there were any additional effects. We thought this was fair, and he was allowed to leave for the day. However, as he continued to improve, he began to increasingly express his desire to leave altogether. As an informal patient, he is entitled to leave covered under the MHA of 1983 (with stipulations), but this was not made clear to him, and he was told that even if he left during the day he would have to return at certain times. He was continuously led on to believe that he would have appointments with psychiatrists, or led on with discharge appointments, only for them not to materialise.

Over time the ward became increasingly unsafe for him, he was moved room, and his sleep was consistently being disturbed by other patients, including one that entered his bathroom unannounced and continued to hassle him, many of the staff were slow to deal with these matters. Despite the fact that he had stabilised now, these matters were actually distressing him more, and although he wanted to leave, he was being told that he couldn't. He asked if he could stay at his home overnight so he could have a good night's sleep, and was told he would need a consultant's note for that, but that they couldn't give him a note because the consultants were busy, and that this would not happen over the weekend as they don't work on the weekend. When he expressed his desire to stay out later the ward managed alluded to him "not wanting to jeopardise his discharge meeting", which to me sounds like a thinly veiled threat.

The final straw came at the start of the week, over two and a half weeks on from the first time he had checked in. He again, expected an appointment, only for it to be postponed another couple days. He came home, extremely anxious about the whole situation, and we had a very candid conversation about his rights as a patient, finally taking the decision not to return. Upon researching this place, I realised that this has not been the first time this has happened, and that there are other people who have posted reviews with this same story. What further concerned me is that the meeting on Wednesday was scheduled with two psychiatrists, which is exactly what you would arrange if you considering sectioning someone, not discharging them.

Upon calling to express he would not be returning the nurse seemed shocked, he expressed that as an informal patient he was exercising his right to leave, and instead of responding with any sort of concern the nurse threatened to call the police. Not once did she ask him about this decision or how he felt, all she knew was the notion of instilling fear in an attempt to coerce a potentially vulnerable person back to the hospital. This was the first time I had heard any of these people directly, and it shocked me. Fortunately, with his peers by his side this threat did not phase him, and he asserted his rights.

There is much more I could add, but all I'll say here is that there is something afoot here; my friend's anxiety could have seriously been used against him to detain him longer had he would have been without a strong support system. The way these institutes treat mental illness is despicable, and some may dismiss the reviews here because of that stigma, but if my voice is worth anything in this conversation: believe them. This place seriously needs to change how it operates, and the fact that it has an "Outstanding" rating is only a reflection of the abject failure of this country to support and protect mentally vulnerable people.

Avoid.

Wave S.

I went 13 months without an appointment because the Dr seemed to have forgotten to put my name in his diary and was forced to chase it up through reception until it happened.
Fast forward to today, I’ve been trying to reach my Dr’s Secretary to no avail so I called reception. Only to be greeted by an extremely rude and unhelpful lady who simply asked me to email someone else, that I don’t even know, and didn’t provide email addresses.
I’m assuming that because some of them work from home that enables them to ignore patients’ care?! Absolutely appalling

James S.

Went there for mental Health help and was turned away,saying once I had some sleep I would be ok.
So I went away and suffered with emerging psychosis for weeks, Until I had to pay privately for an assessment and treatment.
Mental torture is the worst pain imaginable,if you need help don’t bother going here.

Rebecca C.

7 years ago i was here
They treated me appauling
Man handled me when i hated being touched
Injected me to calm me down i just wasn't sleeping.
Got a kidney infection because of them not keeping an eye on one problem.
I hope they don't stil treat everyone like this.
I still get flashbacks of my time their

Chloe

I rate you 5 stars for stalking my new address but please may your staff to stop stalking me, I’m not coming back. I’m just dyspraxic, over sensitive and a bit dramatic. I do not have what your doctors labelled me as, they don’t know me personally nor are they my friend. One day they’ll be fired. I remember them by face. They walked past my house not a call move to make

Laura J.

My partner is in there at the moment due to having a breakdown and now being diagnosed with ADHD. I booked a visit, turned up and Isaac from Sorrell ward was extremely rude and patronising. He said it wasn't in the book (which is wasn't because it wasn't written in) and kept talking over me telling me the procedure. I knew the procedure hence why I called and booked it in. He was grinning the whole time knowing how upset we both were. Instead of trying to resolve the situation he just kept repeating himself again while grinning. I took in some bits of food, vape etc which was checked by a member of staff Isaac then chose to take the vape off my partner saying it wasn't allowed. Another one of the patients there let him their phone to facetime us as he was feeling down and wanted to see his family and guess what Isaac AGAIN interfered and said to the patient if you do it again you will go in seclusion. I feel some staff like to try and trigger reactions from patients they don't like. I told him I was going to make a complaint and he said I threatened him. Which they have cameras everywhere so this can be shown I didn't. If you are going to employ staff then maybe employ people who are sympathetic and know how to deal with certain situations with people who are poorly. I will take this further as he is continuing to make life hell in there for my partner instead of helping him.