I, too, can understand the different views on such an aspect of this mental
health issue. I have been involved in three similar cases, one a child, one
adolescent still living at home and one husband of employee. In each case,
my initial response has been "This is not my patch" but the sheer distress
suffered by the employees and their anxiety and faith in reaching out for
help has spurred me on to empower them to be assertive with the CMHT for
their needs. I have written a letter for them to take to their GP stating
how this situation is affecting the employees health and safety at work. I
have also encouraged the employee to insist on gaining support from their GP
and CMHT and to contact the "Crisis" team as well as their MP. In each case
it has worked , eventually, but with a lot of "Pushing" from the employee
and my encouragement for them to do so. Rightly or wrongly,I could not turn
an employee away who is anxious about this. I would never knowingly "step on
the GP's" toes. But the GP system and the whole NHS is so under resourced
that the GP themselves do not always have the time to stop and note the
seriousness of some of their patients concerns, particularly if the patient
is not very communicative or does not want to "bother their Doctor, he is
always so busy".
Personally, I believe there is no right or wrong answer to this and so many
other issues that we are now "picking up" in OH as a result of an under
resourced NHS. I do my best and hope that each employee finds their
necessary help and if talking to me helped them to find their assertive
streak to get the appropriate help then I feel I have not let them down.
Jean Greening-Jackson (Occupational Health) writes:
> Whilst I agree fully with this response ( and the others) I am mindful
> of the importance of collaborative working with other disciplines, to
> the ultimate benefit of the employee .
>
> Although we are firmly ' in the frame' of Occ Health, we should still
> look at the bigger picture. Sometimes, simply raising the awareness of
> the other professionals to the possible consequences for this employee
> is helpful ( with his permission as ever) as they will very likely have
> no idea .
> I am sure you will have done all this anyway, but just wanted to stress
> the value of collaboration.
>
> I do sympathise with this situation, as the long term impact and cost,
> both fiscal and emotional,to this family will be huge, and borne by the
> NHS and the taxpayer!!
> In the end, as a last resort, what about the local MP?
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Alan
> Sent: 23 January 2008 12:44
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Urgent help needed - apologies for not
> changing subject line
>
>
> This is not part of an Occ health remit.
> Push this one firmly back to the GP / Mental Health team, and be
> supportive to the employee as needed.
>
> As a GP, I'd be a bit miffed if you started doing my job, and I expect
> that you would tell me where to go if I tried to do your job without
> adequate training.
>
>
> Alan
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Muir, Jackie
> Sent: 22 January 2008 17:34
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Urgent help needed
>
>
> Can anyone advise re the following scenario?
>
> We have an employee who has been having problems
> with his son - aged 13yrs - big boy physically, mental health and eating
> disorder. They have everyone involved including the GP, police and
> mental health teams. The child is violent and has now been permanently
> excluded from school. He is supposed to attend counselling daily but is
> not co-operating. The parents normally work while he's at school but now
> one will have to stay at home to look after the child and supervise him.
> He's violent and abusive and is now hiding things under his bed -
> including knives so parents even more worried he will hurt himself or
> them.
>
> The parents are at the end of their coping
> capacity and don't know where to go for help of what to do next. The
> situation is affecting the employee's mental health to the point where
> he is desperate crying on the phone to manager at wits end basically.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas where to go for help?
> I have supplied various sources of support and our EAP, but what they
> need is the child sectioning but they won't do it!
>
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions
> Jackie Muir
> Group Occupational Health Manager
> Kier Group
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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>
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>
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>
Susan Clarke BSc(Hons)
Occupational Health Specialist
Ock Health Ltd
15 Wick Close
Abingdon
OX14 2NQ
Tel: +44 (0) 1235 201280
Mob: +44 (0) 7801 009676
Fax: +44 (0) 1235 424308
email: [log in to unmask]
www.ockhealth.com
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