Petition to get my friends son home

knip · 8 Mar 2016 at 19:57

estebanrey said:
Which is still cheaper than building and staffing specialist units in every part of the country.

I have a lot of sympathy with your friend's situation but I just don't get what signing a petition will do. We cannot afford to build highly specialized facilities all over the country and I trust the reasons behind any detention are based on a genuine fear of the child harming himself or someone else so he can't just be released either.

No easy answers

But there is no specialist unit in the entire south west. Adele doesn't want one on her doorstep, she just wants somewhere nearer that doesn't require a 600 mile round trip to see her son

estebanrey said:
With risk of upsetting the OP, and I mean this genuinely rationally but why don't the parents move nearer to Northampton to solve the problem?

Again, I realise it sounds heartless but it does come across as expecting the mountain to move to Muhammad a little here. If my child was being detained hundreds of miles away I would pack up and move so I could be closer to them, not create a petition expecting the government to invest millions building new facilities closer to me.

I apologise in advance for any distress this post may cause to the OP but I'm a strong believer it rationality trumping emotional discourse.

Eddie was in a unit in Northampton but was removed from there and sent to Newcastle because of serious concerns about the Northampton unit from the CQC. She can't just pick her family up and move, she has other children and her and her partners jobs to think of.

SonniLombardi · 8 Mar 2016 at 20:46

estebanrey said:
With risk of upsetting the OP, and I mean this genuinely rationally but why don't the parents move nearer to Northampton to solve the problem?

Again, I realise it sounds heartless but it does come across as expecting the mountain to move to Muhammad a little here. If my child was being detained hundreds of miles away I would pack up and move so I could be closer to them, not create a petition expecting the government to invest millions building new facilities closer to me.

I apologise in advance for any distress this post may cause to the OP but I'm a strong believer it rationality trumping emotional discourse.

I would assume they have already thought of that. I know I definitely would have. But some people just can't pick up and go due to other factors?
The goverment should be spending more money on the NHS and mental health anyway, it's severely debilitated as it is and there is not enough help.

estebanrey · 8 Mar 2016 at 20:54

SonniLombardi said:
I would assume they have already thought of that. I know I definitely would have. But some people just can't pick up and go due to other factors?
The goverment should be spending more money on the NHS and mental health anyway, it's severely debilitated as it is and there is not enough help.

I agree more spending on Mental Illness needs to happen, but there is a gulf between that and expecting highly specialized centres that cover all forms of mental illness to be build in every other county in the UK.

To take the emotion out of this let me use an analogy. Let's say I had a rare skin condition that only 1,000 people in the UK had. Would it be reasonable of me to expect the NHS to provide support for such a rare circumstance all over the country or even close to me?

android-fan · 8 Mar 2016 at 21:01

Signed

Dis86 · 8 Mar 2016 at 21:58

Will somewhere 'closer' if there's nowhere in the south west be of any benefit? You can fly from bristol to Newcastle in 40 mins. The airport is then a 10 min taxi ride outside of the city or 15 mins on the metro.

knip · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:17

Dis86 said:
Will somewhere 'closer' if there's nowhere in the south west be of any benefit? You can fly from bristol to Newcastle in 40 mins. The airport is then a 10 min taxi ride outside of the city or 15 mins on the metro.

But she can't just pop in her car and get there. It's a plane ride away, provided there is even a flight that day. Eddie started having seizure, if that was a child of yours, you'd want to get in the car and drive there to be with him. She can't do that when he's 300 miles away?

Dis86 · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:23

knip said:
But she can't just pop in her car and get there. It's a plane ride away, provided there is even a flight that day. Eddie started having seizure, if that was a child of yours, you'd want to get in the car and drive there to be with him. She can't do that when he's 300 miles away?

There are flights every day. If my child was having a problem I'd want to get there as quickly as possible. Distance is irrelevant. Time is the key here.

Akagi · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:28

This is sad

But the simpler and more reasonable solution is for her to move closer to him...

knip · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:31

Dis86 said:
There are flights every day. If my child was having a problem I'd want to get there as quickly as possible. Distance is irrelevant. Time is the key here.

And who funds that? The flights are only Monday to Friday from Bristol to Newcastle. Go and check if you don't believe me? Plus there's not a constant run of flights. It's much easier to be able to get in a car and get there. Distance is not irrelevant if she just wants to be able to pop and see her son. The health care system denying her that is utterly wrong.

knip · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:32

Acme said:
This is sad

But the simpler and more reasonable solution is for her to move closer to him...

She has a job, as does her partner, and three other children to consider. It's really not that easy. Honest

Akagi · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:35

Fair enough. I didn't read the full post.

Tefal · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:40

knip said:
And who funds that? The flights are only Monday to Friday from Bristol to Newcastle. Go and check if you don't believe me? Plus there's not a constant run of flights. It's much easier to be able to get in a car and get there. Distance is not irrelevant if she just wants to be able to pop and see her son. The health care system denying her that is utterly wrong.

But its not denying her that.

You say she cant move because she and her partner have jobs in bristol fine.

But to move him will require they set up a whole new facility and find or move people to staff it.

You csn see how that is far more complicated and difficult that 2 people moving right?

Dis86 · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:40

knip said:
And who funds that? The flights are only Monday to Friday from Bristol to Newcastle. Go and check if you don't believe me? Plus there's not a constant run of flights. It's much easier to be able to get in a car and get there. Distance is not irrelevant if she just wants to be able to pop and see her son. The health care system denying her that is utterly wrong.

You're forgetting the healthcare system is caring for a very ill child here and have to work to a limited budget with a limited number of spaces and locations. At no cost to the family. They're not denying her anything, they're doing their primary job which is to care for the welfare of him. Sadly I don't know if there are private alternatives for care.

knip · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:42

But there is literally nothing in the entire south west that can cater for kids with special needs and mental health issues. Surely that's wrong for such a large area?

Akagi · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:43

knip said:
But there is literally nothing in the entire south west that can cater for kids with special needs and mental health issues. Surely that's wrong for such a large area?

That is almost true. But it never used to be... Most of these places have closed down...

There used to be two or three within a 30 mile radius of myself, but none of them exist anymore. One has been demolished, one is now council offices, and I'm not sure what happened to the other.

Tingtangmakadingdong · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:52

Signed.

Tefal · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:56

knip said:
But there is literally nothing in the entire south west that can cater for kids with special needs and mental health issues. Surely that's wrong for such a large area?

Of course there are such places.

There just isnt one suited to people with the severity of his condition.

Its a pretty rare situation tbh. Building a whole new facility and soending funds that could have helped far more than one family its the best solution

cheesyboy · 8 Mar 2016 at 22:59

Tefal said:
But its not denying her that.

You say she cant move because she and her partner have jobs in bristol fine.

But to move him will require they set up a whole new facility and find or move people to staff it.

You csn see how that is far more complicated and difficult that 2 people moving right?

I really don't think we should be promoting the idea that people should have to just bend themselves around an infrastructure which fails on such a level as to necessitate moving a child 300 miles away from their family.

That's just not acceptable.

estebanrey · 8 Mar 2016 at 23:26

cheesyboy said:
I really don't think we should be promoting the idea that people should have to just bend themselves around an infrastructure which fails on such a level as to necessitate moving a child 300 miles away from their family.

That's just not acceptable.

Nor is it feasible to expect highly specialized care for what are rare conditions to be available all over the country though.

This isn't a case where the south has no centers that cater for mental illness and special needs, this poor boy has a mix of mental illnesses that means he needs highly specialized care.

Dis86 · 8 Mar 2016 at 23:42

knip said:
But there is literally nothing in the entire south west that can cater for kids with special needs and mental health issues. Surely that's wrong for such a large area?

With limited resources it may well be a difficult decision they've had to make. It's not financially viable to set up a very specialised centre if there are only few that would benefit.
Near me specialist health centres have been closed due to inability to find staff for example