29th of June

The Observer – The mental health units that shame the NHS


Millions have been spent on the NHS since Labour pledged to reform it 10 years ago – so why does the incoming president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists think the state of some wards is so dire that he would not let his own family use them? Social affairs correspondent Amelia Hill reports
‘You don’t go to hospital to get hurt, but that’s what’s happening in our acute psychiatric wards,’ said professor Dinesh Bhugra. ‘Some are uninhabitable. It’s completely and absolutely unacceptable.’ Bhugra, who will not only be the first Asian president of the college when he begins his term of office on Wednesday, but also the first president to be elected unopposed since it was founded in 1841, added: ‘Wards are not safe. And I predict things will continue to get worse.’

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