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Patients Are Just Cash Cows': Greg Hurst, Social Affairs Editor

The document summarizes the cases of two patients, Bethany and Stephen Andrade, who have spent prolonged periods of time in psychiatric institutions. Bethany, who has autism and anxiety disorders, spent months in seclusion and is currently held under the Mental Health Act at a cost of over £13,000 per week. Stephen's mother says he has deteriorated during his four years in private psychiatric units, where he has lost weight and stopped basic self-care. She accuses the facilities of keeping patients like "cash cows" to continue receiving high payments for their care.

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56 views2 pages

Patients Are Just Cash Cows': Greg Hurst, Social Affairs Editor

The document summarizes the cases of two patients, Bethany and Stephen Andrade, who have spent prolonged periods of time in psychiatric institutions. Bethany, who has autism and anxiety disorders, spent months in seclusion and is currently held under the Mental Health Act at a cost of over £13,000 per week. Stephen's mother says he has deteriorated during his four years in private psychiatric units, where he has lost weight and stopped basic self-care. She accuses the facilities of keeping patients like "cash cows" to continue receiving high payments for their care.

Uploaded by

frankieb99
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

‘Patients are just cash cows’

Greg Hurst, Social Affairs Editor

Times INVESTIGATION | CASE STUDIES

November 5 2018, 12:01am, The Times

Bethany, who has autism and an extreme anxiety disorder, is held under the
Mental Health Act

Bethany, 17, spent only five days out of the cell-like room where she was held in
seclusion for months before returning to it last week. She is again in a bare room with a
mattress and plastic chair where food is passed through a hatch.

After The Times and others highlighted her case last month she was moved briefly to
three rooms in an isolation unit at St Andrew’s Hospital in Northampton, with a bespoke
team of carers familiar to her.

Bethany, who finds animals calming, was able to pet a rabbit and a guinea pig at the
hospital. But when she was told she could have her own two guinea pigs she began to ask
when and became distressed, then violent. Her father, Jeremy, 50, from Harborne,
Birmingham, whose surname cannot be published for legal reasons, accused staff at St
Andrew’s of failing to heed his advice that changes should be introduced gradually.

Bethany, who has autism and an extreme anxiety disorder and has harmed herself, is
held under the Mental Health Act. Discussions are continuing on a move to a
community placement, recommended after an assessment in June said the hospital
could not meet her needs. Her care costs more than £13,000 a week, her father said.
“Why was Beth allowed to be kept in seclusion in such horrific conditions without an
external audit, why are we paying so much money? It is a ridiculous amount.”

St Andrews hospital in Northampton where Bethany’s care costs more than


£13,000 a weekALAMY

In the four years that Stephen Andrade has been detained in private psychiatric units,
his mother, Leo, says he has deteriorated. Mr Andrade, 23, who has learning disabilities
and autism, had a learning age of about seven but this has regressed to five, Mrs
Andrade says.

When he moved to St Andrew’s Hospital from a residential special school, his family
were told it would be for a few weeks. He stayed for almost two years, sectioned under
the Mental Health Act, and his weight dropped from 13 to 8 stone.

Mrs Andrade, 54, from Islington, north London, said that within months she barely
recognised him because he was so heavily medicated. He also stopped washing.

Stephen later moved to a specialist autism unit at a secure Priory hospital in Clacton-on-
Sea, Essex, but Mrs Andrade says he is still heavily medicated, self-harming and now
rarely speaks. “My son and all the others are cash cows for these companies, hence the
reason why they don’t let them go,” she said.

A Priory spokesman said it aimed to keep medications to lowest possible doses to keep
people safe.

Mental health

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