A senior police officer has voiced concerns that the closure of Harrogate’s mental health assessment suite is putting an added strain on emergency services.
North Yorkshire Police chief inspector Alex Langley said people who are detained under the Mental Health Act have been taken as far as Scarborough or Darlington after the closure of the section 136 suite at Harrogate District Hospital’s Briary Wing in May 2020.
It has meant police officers have been out of action for several hours as they drive detainees around the county.
Speaking at a recent Harrogate Borough Council meeting, Chf Insp Langley described the scale of the mental health crisis and impact on officers as “phenomenal”. He said.
“We don’t have a section 136 suite in Harrogate any more so if we detain somebody under the mental health act we could end up in Darlington or Scarborough, and that is a real challenge for us.
“They have to go in an ambulance and it takes multiple officers and a significant amount of time.”
He added:
“I would love for my officers to not have to go to any mental health incidents and actually send a mental health professional with better training and competence than we have.
“But in reality with the cuts, if we get a call from somebody who is in crisis and we are the last barrier then we have to go.”
Mental health services in the Harrogate district are provided by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust, which said it has an assessment suite in Haxby, north of York.
It added its staff work closely with North Yorkshire Police and that new ways of working have seen a reduction in detentions under the mental health act.
Zoe Campbell, managing director of the trust’s North Yorkshire, York and Selby care group, said:
“For many people, receiving care and treatment in their own home can have the best outcome.
“We aim to provide crisis support and mental health assessments in a person’s home or as close to home as we can.
“Where this is not possible, we provide alternative places of safety for an assessment to take place. This way of working has seen a reduction in the number of people detained under section 136 of the Mental Health Act.”
The lack of custody cells for all types of arrests was recently raised as a concern by county councillors who said they were worried over a wider impact on police response times.
Members of North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Panel have asked commissioner Zoe Metcalfe to provide a report into the impact of officers in the north of the county having to take detainees to Harrogate and Scarborough following the closure of cells in Richmond and Northallerton.
Panel member Martin Walker, a former judge, told commissioner Metcalfe he had received various reports that police were “not arresting people that perhaps they should” because of the added travel time. He said:
Former Spofforth teacher launches guided meditation to improve children’s mental health“I can’t see there is any other reason for doing it than saving money.”
A former teacher turned holistic therapist has launched a new project designed to help children improve their mental health.
Debbie Ross spent many years working as a teaching assistant, nursery nurse and special educational needs coordinator at Spofforth Church of England Primary School.
Among her favourite memories was a trip to Bewerley Park outdoor education centre, when she and the pupils enjoyed a guided meditation session. She said:
“The children are now grown up with their own children, but I’m still in touch with some and they remember doing it. It’s something they enjoyed and they’re now using those skills as adults.”
Now a holistic therapist and reiki practitioner, Debbie, who lives in Ripon, has created her own guided meditations designed to help children aged between five and 12 to relax.
She said each of them encourages the child to visualise a scene and use their imagination to help calm their minds. Debbie has paired each meditation with a crystal to add to the experience.
She said:
“I’m really driven to use crystals with the meditation. They’re very tactile and if the children learn what the crystal can help them with, they have got something to take away with them.
“Some children take the sodalite crystal into school with them because it’s small. They’ve all said it really helps them to stay calm.”
Research has shown that the covid pandemic has had a negative impact on children’s mental health, with one in six having a diagnosable mental health condition in 2021 compared to one in nine just four years earlier.
Debbie said she hopes her guided crystal meditations will help children to develop skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.
She is speaking to local schools about introducing them for their pupils and also hopes to approach hospitals about using them for young patients.
Meanwhile, they are also available on Debbie’s website.
Book collection launched across district to support teenagers’ mental healthBooks that support the mental health of teenagers have been put in libraries across the Harrogate district.
The North Yorkshire’s library service initiative coincides with today’s World Mental Health Day.
The pandemic’s disruption to young people’s lives, alongside issues such as growing concern about global warming, has increased uncertainty about identity, position in society and future plans.
In 2020, almost half of young people said they did not feel in control of their lives and almost a third felt overwhelmed by feelings of panic and anxiety on a daily basis, according to North Yorkshire County Council.
The new books, which are recommended by health professionals as part of the Reading Well initiative, cover topics such as body image, bereavement, social anxiety, boosting confidence, surviving online, sexuality, gender identity and mental health.
They cater for a wide range of reading levels and formats to support less confident readers and encourage engagement.
North Yorkshire County Council’s executive member for libraries, Cllr Greg White, said:
“Our libraries have embraced the Reading Well scheme for some years, already focusing on mental health, dementia and issues facing young people.
“This latest collection adds another strand to the support that young people can find at their library, again showcasing their important role in maintaining the health and wellbeing of the communities they serve.”
Every library in North Yorkshire, including Harrogate, Knaresborough, Boroughbridge and Ripon, will be displaying titles from the new collection and any title which is unavailable can be requested and borrowed free of charge.
The Reading Well collection is curated by The Reading Agency in partnership with experts from organisations and professionals including NHS England, leading mental health charities and library staff.
More information about the Reading Well collection can be found here.
Plans submitted to add more bedrooms to Harrogate mental health hospitalA two-storey extension could provide additional bedrooms at the Cygnet Hospital on Ripon Road in Harrogate.
Plans have been submitted to add four en suite bedrooms along with two offices to the rear of the building, in addition to the existing 36 beds .
As a result, the mental health hospital would increase its overall floor space by 115.5m sq, bringing the total size of the four-storey building to 1692m sq.
Supporting information submitted with the plans said:
“The Cygnet Hospital Harrogate is a well managed establishment and provides an important function for the community.
“It is essential that this critical piece of healthcare infrastructure can continue to provide the bedspaces required to support the demands of the community and help reduce the national shortage of bedspaces.”
The hospital has two wards – one mixed gender and one female – which both provide 24-hour care for people with acute mental health needs. Patients are referred to Cygnet from both the NHS and private practices.
The plans propose installing a temporary fire escape from the first floor while the work is carried out, which would be removed on completion.
One extra car park space would be created in the grounds as a result of landscaping under the plans for the former hotel.
To view or comment on the application, visit Harrogate Borough Council’s planning website and use reference 22/02799/FUL.
Former Harrogate nurse struck off over 19 misconduct charges
A community psychiatric nurse who was based in Harrogate has been struck off after facing a series of charges of misconduct.
Gordon Eric Finlay was found to have failed to keep accurate records for patients in his care, or to maintain professional boundaries, when he worked for the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, covering the Harrogate area in 2017.
He was also found to have acted inappropriately with colleagues, including sexually inappropriate behaviour, when working for Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust in 2019.
In a nine-day hearing last month, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard evidence from multiple witnesses in relation to 19 charges. A report from the hearing said:
“It came to light that that Mr Finlay had communicated with a vulnerable mental health patient (Patient A) by telephone and a number of text messages which contained inappropriate content after the patient ceased to be under his care.
“Further regulatory concerns identified from this referral relate to a failure to preserve patient safety, in that Mr Finlay failed to escalate Patient A’s care when Patient A had disclosed a decline in mood and increased thoughts of suicide in a number of text messages to Mr Finlay. Patient A committed suicide during this period of communication.”
The three-person panel also heard he had signed off text messages to Patient A with “Gx”. The report said she had “severe and enduring” mental health problems, “particularly in relation to building trust and maintaining relationships”, and was “particularly vulnerable to any blurred… lines of professional communication”.
Mr Finlay, who was not present or represented at the hearing, was found to have failed to share Patient A’s deteriorating mental health with colleagues not through a genuine mistake, but in order to protect his job.
Relating to other charges of failing to keep accurate records for his patients in both Harrogate and Bradford, the report said:
“The panel considered the written representations of Mr Finlay, in particular, his admission that he was unfamiliar and not comfortable with the electronic diary and therefore recorded appointments in his paper diary.
“The panel was of the view that Mr Finlay would have had sufficient time to learn and use the electronic diary system over the approximate four-month period that was affected and he should have escalated any concerns or issues that he believed were preventing him from completing his patient records as required.”
The NMC panel also heard Mr Finlay’s line manager had offered him additional support with his record-keeping, but this had not been taken up.
Mr Finlay was also accused of hugging and kissing a colleague on the cheek, as well as touching another colleague’s bottom, and making sexual comments in his workplace as well as showing an inappropriate video to colleagues.
In a written response to the charge of the hug and kiss, he said:
“It felt like a normal thing to do around someone’s birthday and I didn’t give it much thought, it was innocent and I would stress this hopefully reinforced by the CCTV footage that it was non-sexual and did not appear to create a reaction.”
The panel found the kiss and the hug was not sexual in nature, but that touching the other colleague’s bottom was.
It also found the latter – against a colleague described as “a junior colleague and a young and inexperienced person in the workplace” – amounted to bullying and harassment. The other sexual behaviours were found not to be bullying.
Addressing all charges, the panel found Mr Finlay’s conduct had fallen “seriously short” of the standards expected of a nurse and amounted to misconduct. Its report said:
“In considering whether the conduct has been remediated, the panel acknowledged that Mr Finlay cooperated in the local investigation and made admissions to some of the charges.
“He has also engaged with the NMC process and provided detailed written information by way of reflection and further information, although he did not attend the hearing.
“The panel acknowledged Mr Finlay had developed a health issue over the course of these events relating to depression and anxiety. The panel also acknowledged that both Mr Finlay and the rest of the mental health team in the area were under considerable work pressure.”
The report said there were 315 patient contacts which had not been recorded by Mr Finlay and that he had shown “no insight into the impact of his failures… on wider patient care or upon his colleagues”.
It said Mr Finlay’s written submissions had shown he felt he was “prioritising patient care”. However, the panel said having had the matter addressed by one NHS trust, he still failed to keep accurate records when he moved to a new trust.
The report concluded:
“Mr Finlay’s actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse, and are fundamentally incompatible with him remaining on the register.
“The panel was of the view that the findings in this particular case demonstrate that Mr Finlay’s actions were serious and to allow him to continue practising would undermine public confidence in the profession and in the NMC as a regulatory body.”
As a result of the panel’s findings, Mr Finlay was struck off the nursing register.
Bilton man says government is failing young people with mental health issuesA man from Bilton who battled undiagnosed Post-traumatic stress disorder for six years says the government is failing young people with mental health issues due to a lack of funding.
Ben Rothery, 22, said his mental health first began to suffer as a teenager when he struggled to come to terms with his sexuality and was bullied by other children.
He also developed a problematic relationship with food and his weight increased to 18 stone.
The bullying led to a suicide attempt aged 16 and further traumatic events at university increased his suffering. Despite seeking help through the NHS several times, they were unable to diagnose what was wrong with him.
He said in one year, he told at least 10 people within the NHS about the same traumatic experiences.
He said:
“I shut everything positive out of my life. I didn’t know what was going on.”
After his suicide attempt six years ago, he was first referred by his GP to CAMHS, an NHS service for young people with mental health problems.
Mr Rothery said the waiting list was “huge” but he was offered regular sessions for a year.
He was one of the lucky ones, with reports of some young people waiting up to two years for sessions.
Whilst helpful, he said CAMHS was unable to diagnose him with any mental health condition, which left him confused.
Things began to improve at school, and after coming out as gay during his school’s 6th form prom, his confidence improved. He went to university in York to train to be a teacher and his future looked bright.
He said:
“It was the happiest I’d ever been. I finally looked in mirror and that was who I wanted to be.”
But whilst at university, his mental health began to suffer again. He starved himself and lost six stone in just two months.
He then suffered a painful fallout with people he thought were friends and faced more bullying.
He bought a pride flag that he hoped to take to his first Harrogate Pride event. However, somebody went into his bedroom, urinated on it and posted a video all over social media. He said he then “isolated himself completely”.
When the first covid lockdown happened in March 2020, Mr Rothery said “the world stopped when I needed it to stop”.
He dropped out of university with thousands of pounds worth of debt, moved back home to Harrogate with his family, and retreated into his own world.
He said the experience at university was traumatic and he didn’t feel like he could talk about it.
“People said, ‘it’s just drama’ but it really affected me. It was like being so high up, feeling like you made it in life, then plummeting straight back down. I was lower than when I tried to commit suicide at 16″.
In early 2021, Mr Rothery decided to seek help again. His GP referred him to IAPT, an NHS talking therapy service.
But he was offered just three hours of CBT treatment and it didn’t address his problems. He was still desperately seeking a diagnosis and an answer to why he was feeling so bad.
He said:
“I thought I had anxiety that had spiralled out of control. I had looked into PTSD, but I thought only people who had suffered really extreme things, like soldiers or victims of sexual assault had that.
“I felt like I hadn’t been listened to. Everybody I spoke to didn’t understand my problems.”
He said he carried on struggling until late last year when he had a “complete meltdown” and contemplated suicide again.
“I sat sobbing in my bedroom. I thought, I don’t want to leave my mum and dad. I saw how my previous suicide attempt made them feel. But I just thought, I don’t want to wake up.”
With his mental health problems now at an all-time low, he visited his GP again.
The doctor presented him with two options: go back to IAPT again or take medication. But he didn’t want to rely on chemicals to feel better.
Fortunately, his dad, who is a painter and decorator, had a customer in Harrogate who is a trained therapist. A deal was agreed where he would do work for her in return for offering sessions for Ben.
Private therapy sessions usually start at least £50 an hour, out of reach for most young people in Harrogate on lower salaries, so the offer changed his life.
He said it was the first time somebody had listened and told him what was wrong with him: PTSD brought on by the traumatic events of his teenage years and at university.
“That was the first time somebody told me what was wrong with me.
“It’s like a filing cabinet that has been thrown over and reorganising. It was the first time I’d felt listened to. I felt like I’d achieved something. For six years since 16 I’d been trying to get support but nobody seemed to know what to do.”
Mr Rothery says since the private therapy sessions finished he is doing much better. He has a fulfilling job and a good support network including his mum and dad.
But he fears that there are countless other people in Harrogate who are suffering with poor mental health in silence —and they are unable to afford expensive private therapy sessions that could make all the difference.
A report published in May by Harrogate-based Healthwatch North Yorkshire found that 72% of young people said they had experienced mental health or well-being issues in the past year.
Mr Rothery said:
“The biggest frustration for me is that anybody who didn’t have a support system at home like me would not have survived as long as I did. It crossed my mind that i could stop it all with one solution, but I’d be giving up. If i was to commit suicide, I’d give up all this fight.”
He added:
Calls for action over ‘overwhelmed’ North Yorkshire children’s mental health services“If everybody tried to get help and came forward to their GPs, maybe more would be done.”
Children’s community mental health services need a root and branch review, officials in North Yorkshire have said.
North Yorkshire County Council’s director of children and young people’s services Stuart Carlton, said ongoing concerns over a lack of available support had been highlighted to the Department for Education.
It comes amid concerns the strategy to deal with a post-pandemic surge in youngsters requiring support is grossly inadequate.
Mr Carlton said increasing the amount of help for children with mental health issues ranked alongside child exploitation and online safety as the most significant challenges his colleagues were facing.
He was speaking at a meeting of the authority’s children and young people’s scrutiny committee a year after the NHS announced it was rapidly expanding children’s mental health services to offer support teams in schools to almost three million pupils by 2023.
At the time, the NHS said by intervening in mental health issues early it was hoped to prevent problems escalating into serious concerns.
Earlier this year the committee heard mental health services for children in the county and elsewhere were struggling to cope with an “exponential growth in demand” due to the isolation and upheaval of the pandemic, compounded by factors like pressure experienced by children on social media platforms.
In February, Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust bosses told the scrutiny meeting its community-based mental health team (CAMHS) was treating more than 2,500 children across the county.
They said referrals to its services for issues such as eating disorders had risen from about 100 a month at start of pandemic to more than 300 a month during 2021.
Four months on, a youth support worker told the committee the waiting list for CAMHS had risen to 18 months, which was not a sufficiently timely reaction to what children needed.
She said:
“The biggest challenge we face on the ground is mental health. I cannot overestimate how challenging it is. Pretty much all the young people we work with have some element of mental ill health.”
When asked about a timeframe for getting mental health support teams into schools, Mr Carlton said the authority had told government officials the scheme was too being implemented too slowly and the ambition needed to be to get mental health teams available for all schools.
He added:
“I just don’t see how that’s going to happen. I have called nationally for a fundamental CAMHS review because it is not working. It needs significant funding and significant review and enacting clearly across the whole of the country.”
Mr Carlton said the authority was providing support to schools through mental heath training while working with North Yorkshire NHS bosses to reassess what was needed from the service and how it could be modernised.
He said there had been promising collaborative work with the NHS, but financing extra support for children would be “very challenging”.
Mr Carlton said:
Experienced fundraiser joins Harrogate mental health charity“We can see through the pandemic increased demand. The services are probably feeling a bit overwhelmed and overstretched and it’s an area of absolute focus.
“Any interaction with a child from a professional is a mental health opportunity. However, we need enough capacity for specialist support when it is required.”
Business Breakfast is sponsored by Harrogate law firm Truth Legal.
A new head of fundraising has been appointed at a Harrogate counselling and training charity.
Kennie Cheung, whose experience includes time at Oxfam and a cancer charity in her native Hong Kong, joins Wellspring Training and Therapy in Starbeck.
Emily Fullarton, the executive director of Wellspring, said demand for mental health care had risen and was continuing to grow since the covid pandemic. She added:
“In the UK, 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health issue at least once in their lifetime. According to local research, many people in Harrogate assume because it is a ‘nice town’ people don’t struggle with these issues. That simply isn’t true.
“There is a huge demand in Harrogate for our services and it’s increasing. The NHS, which is responsible for mental health care, simply can’t cope.”
Wellspring offers affordable counselling from just £5 per hour to people who cannot afford to pay for private appointments and who face long waiting lists on the NHS.
Clients can have short-term support or a long-term course of sessions with a qualified counsellor, depending on their needs.
Kennie said:
“This is a dream job for me. The political situation in Hong Kong, combined with the fact that our son Samuel is studying at University of Leeds, meant that we wanted to relocate to England and, in particular, Yorkshire.
“Harrogate is the most wonderful town – and I count myself incredibly blessed to have found a job here, which is suited to my skills and which is so worthwhile. I look forward to making new friends and contacts here and to reach out to individuals and businesses who are keen to help such a brilliant mental health charity like Wellspring.”
A leading Yorkshire chef has been appointed to lead the pan-Asian restaurant at Grantley Hall.
Samira Effa will be head chef at Bar & Restaurant EightyEight, joining the five-star hotel from TRUEfoods where she was a senior production chef.
She is widely known for competing in the 2019 and 2020 series of Great British Menu, showcasing Yorkshire produce as well as her love of diverse cooking techniques and flavours thanks to her Iranian mother and Nigerian father.
The Huddersfield-born chef said:
“I’m honoured for the opportunity and so excited to be joining the Bar & Restaurant EightyEight team and know that with my breadth of knowledge across the industry, I’m ready to showcase some exciting flavours and bring new ideas to the EightyEight menu.
“I’ve always had a passion for food and with my parents’ rich backgrounds, it was common for us at home to cook together using traditional Iranian and Nigerian recipes – both of which are bursting with flavour. I can’t wait to get stuck in at EightyEight and bring my own flair to the restaurant which I know is a popular spot for hotel guests and diners alike.”
Simon Crannage, executive head chef at Grantley Hall, added:
“We’re thrilled to welcome Samira to the Grantley Hall family and are very excited to see what she brings to Bar & Restaurant EightyEight.
“Samira has an exceptional culinary track record, along with having a genuine passion and love for food that I know will translate into her dishes for our diners to enjoy.”
Aaron Bertenshaw’s family to fundraise at Knaresborough Bed Race
The family of Harrogate singer songwriter Aaron Bertenshaw, who died in December, will be raising money for Diabetes UK at this weekend’s Knaresborough Bed Race.
Aaron, a former pupil at St Aidan’s Church of England High School, died aged 26 after struggling with diabetes and mental health issues.
Since his death, his mother Sammy Oates has been campaigning to plug the gap in services between people affected by the two conditions.
She is now lending her support to Diabetes UK’s new Diabetes is Serious campaign, which calls on the government to create a national recovery plan to support frontline healthcare teams getting diabetes services back on track after covid.
Ms Oates and Christine Holmes, a volunteer for Diabetes UK, will be part of a team operating a stand at Saturday’s bed race. The stand will provide information about diabetes and raise funds through a raffle and tombola. Tickets can be bought at the Worlds End and Castle Inn pubs in Knaresborough and The Blues Bar in Harrogate.
Supermarket Morrisons has agreed to match fund the sum raised.
(from left) Samantha Oates, Andrew Jones and Christine Holmes at the House of Commons.
Andrew Jones, the Conservative MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, who recently met Ms Oates and Ms Holmes at the House of Commons, is expected to draw the winning raffle ticket.
Mr Jones said in a statement he “strongly supported” the Diabetes Is Serious campaign. He was one of 100 MPs who recently attended an event about it at the Commons. He added:
“Diabetes is a growing issue and has implications across other parts of healthcare including mental health as Samantha’s family story so powerfully shows.
“Samantha has taken an event that is very personal and painful and turned it into a campaign that is public and positive.
“It is impressive. I look forward to attending the Knaresborough Bed Race and supporting Samantha’s raffle raising money for Diabetes UK’s important work.”
Next week is Diabetes Week in the UK
A new Diabetes UK report revealed that 47% of people with diabetes in England experienced difficulties managing their condition in 2021. Sixty-three per cent attributed this in part to not having sufficient access to their healthcare team.
The charity, which organises Diabetes Week next week, said in a statement:
Harrogate district patients feeling ‘catastrophic impact’ of dental crisis“Diabetes is serious and isn’t something you can ignore. If people do not receive the care they need, it can put them at risk of serious complications, which can lead to premature death.
“The coronavirus pandemic has created a backlog in the delivery of this routine yet vital care and, despite the tireless efforts of the NHS, many people living with diabetes are still struggling to access it.”
“We’re calling for an urgent recovery plan from the UK Government to tackle these devastating diabetes care delays before it’s too late. Urgent action is required now.”
Patients in the Harrogate district are feeling the “catastrophic impact” of the dental crisis on their overall health, according to a new report.
Healthwatch North Yorkshire, the NHS body representing patients, is demanding a task force be set up to address the crisis in the county’s oral health due to a lack of NHS dentists.
The report outlines the impact of not being able to access an NHS dentist on the lives of more than 80 residents in the county, including Harrogate.
The watchdog said the issue needed “urgent reform”.
Ashley Green, chief executive officer at Healthwatch North Yorkshire, said:
“The case studies presented in this report reiterate the severe issues facing people across North Yorkshire. To hear the drastic measures people have resorted to after not being able to access an NHS dentist is harrowing.
“The financial impact, the impact on people’s mental health and on people’s physical health – these case studies reiterate the disaster people across our county are facing.
“Urgent reform is needed, and we urge that something is done now — before the situation gets even worse.”
A Harrogate case study detailed how one patient suffering gum pain called 10 dentists, both private and NHS, and offered to pay privately, but was told none were taking either NHS or private patients.
They said:
“I called 111 and was told to go and see my dentist, I explained I didn’t have a dentist and was told it was difficult at the moment.
“The pain was worsening so I ended up taking paracetamol, codeine and ibuprofen, spaced out at regular intervals. I again called 111, and only when I said I was now taking three types of painkiller did they take notice.
“They said a dentist would call me at around 7.30am next morning, so be up and ready to go. No phone call until 1.30pm telling me to go to a practice in Harrogate the next morning. I went and was seen for a couple of minutes, confirming that I had a gum infection. The dentist prescribed antibiotics, which did clear up the infection.
“My complaint is that dentists are not bound to give a person in pain help. I have heard this complaint from quite a few friends now, surely they should be duty bound to see emergency cases.”
The recommendations outlined in the report include:
Nationally, Healthwatch England has led calls for a radical rethink of NHS dentistry and it will be announcing its next steps over the coming weeks.
The government said it was increasing investment in services to improve access.
Last year, the Stray Ferret revealed that just two Harrogate district NHS dentists were accepting patients but both had a waiting list of at least two-and-a-half years.
The investigation revealed how acute the problem of dental care is for people on low incomes in the district, with one councillor describing the situation as “shocking”.
Meanwhile, a review of NHS dentistry published in August 2021 found that found there was just one NHS dentist practice per 10,000 people in the district.
Healthwatch North Yorkshire is calling for people to share their views and experiences of health and social care, by visiting our website, calling 01423 788128 or emailing admin@hwny.co.uk.