Things need to change for those of us who suffer with mental health problems! Too many people are being turned away and forgotten about. Myself and my family included. Home visits from doctors should be available for those who suffer with mental health problems. I don’t want to bury my father because the health care system has failed him. For the most part we have had no difficulty with medication, we’ve rarely had to ask for help. But not this time, this time I am begging each and every one of you for your help. 

My dad suffers with anxiety and depression and struggles immensely when it comes to doctors appointments and and hospital visits, it’s unlikely he will attend them. Because of his anxiety, he physically and mentally can not leave the house and go to the doctors or hospital without either myself or my mum going with him. He has panic attacks and stresses before and during appointments and will often wait until the last minute to ask for any help.

My dad also has diabetes type 2, along with some other serious medical conditions, and a healthy diet and regular exercise won’t help on their own, he NEEDS medication to help him survive. 

To you diabetes might sound like a relatively harmless thing but it’s far from it. 500 people with diabetes die prematurely every week. Diabetes is a lifelong condition that causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high. Without medication blood sugars can not pass through the body and can eventually lead to organ failure. This is the stage my dad is now getting to.

Two weeks ago my dad’s diabetes worsened, the doctors were phoned and instead of seeing him then they told him to go to A&E. Because of the covid restrictions neither myself or my mum can go with him and so when told that would not be an option we could take because of his mental health problems, we were told to wait it out and to call an ambulance if he slips into a coma! We have been calling and calling, asking for the doctors to help us and each time we have been turned away and told the same thing. 

My dad could die because the doctors have refused to see him and give him the medication he needs. All it would take is a few tests and a prescription. Myself and my mum have sat on the floor holding my dad as he cried because he is in so much pain physically and emotionally. 

If a doctor were able to come to the house and see my dad instead of telling him to go to the hospital, (which he can not) all of this could be solved. 

People suffer with mental health problems, we don’t ask for the impossible, we don’t want to burden anybody else. All we want is to be acknowledged and treated with respect. Help me to help my dad, and so many other people be acknowledged. 

And now I am asking you, the people with the power, do something good, do something right. Help my dad get the treatment he deserves.

Thank you.