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Patients are not prisoners
Your stories regarding the Becklin Centre in Leeds do a grave disservice to the staff, patients and future patients of the centre.
Those who are there are patients, there for treatment and, hopefully, recovery. They are not prisoners.
Restrictions on their liberty must necessarily be imposed sometimes, but they must be proportionate and must be in their own best interests.
Sometimes, the finely balanced judgments that staff must take will be to allow patients time off the unit, perhaps a few hours, perhaps a home visit. It is a necessary and inevitable part of their rehabilitation and treatment.
We no longer incarcerate 'lunatics' for life terms. Society is the better for it.
I have personally, professionally, seen the aftermath of a patient suicide on a mental health unit. Staff who have worked incredibly hard to care for patients never get used to it and are profoundly affected by any death.
Sadly, if an individual is determined, regardless of all the precautions that can and are put into place, they will succeed in taking their life.
I can only imagine the impact of your stories on patients who are now in mental distress and for whom the only answer may be a period of in-patient care
Steve Mason, Henconner Lane Leeds
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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