(photo : Tracey Gibbon with son Kyle who was admitted to The State Hospital in February 2010. From October 2007, aged 19, he had been an inpatient in a low secure unit at the Royal Cornhill Hospital, Aberdeen, treated for ADHD. He left the hospital on 4 days per week for college training in catering, and stayed with his Mum at weekends. In November 2009 a flat in the community was being set up for him to move into. When his psychiatrist returned from maternity leave she was alarmed by the speed of developments in her absence. She cancelled the flat. Kyle was incensed and had a meltdown. The psychiatrist accused him of attacking her, and arranged for him to be re-assessed elsewhere. Space was not available at a medium secure hospital so he was sent to the highest security hospital at Carstairs. He has been there ever since.)
Dear Friends and Supporters
Today I am emailing our Petition to Clare Haughey MSP, Minister for Mental Health in the Scottish Government. I am asking her to meet us to discuss what can be done about Kyle Gibbon, Gordon Hughes and others like them who are locked up unjustly and treated inappropriately in high/medium secure psychiatric hospitals in Scotland.
However it is very likely that a lot more pressure will have to be put on the Scottish Government and relevant NHS Boards before action is taken and these people are released. Therefore
PLEASE KEEP SHARING OUR PETITION!
Please join us in making a personal pledge to
RECRUIT 2 NEW SUPPORTERS IN THE NEXT 2 WEEKS
If everyone did this we could grow our support three-fold during March.
The most effective way to share the Petition is to recommend it directly to specific family or friends. Ask them to sign and to let you know when they have done so. In addition, please post the petition on all of your social media accounts. We do NOT recommend donating to promote our Petition.
The most valuable signatures come from people who live in the UK, particularly those who live Scotland, who can write to their MPs and/or MSPs, who can then put additional pressure on the authorities.
Not all signatures are being recorded, because of a glitch on the Change.Org platform. So please also ask prospective supporters to check that our Petition is listed as "Signed" on their "My Petitions" page on Change.Org. If this does not happen they will need to contact help@change.org.
If you receive this update, your signature is on our petition.
Thank you for your support
Barry Gale, with Ruth Hughes and Tracey Gibbon enquiries to : barrygale2003@yahoo.co.uk
PS Please also sign and share Melanie Leahy's petition which calls for a Statutory Public Inquiry into the deaths of her son Matthew and at least 20 other patients in the care of Essex Mental Health services, chiefly at the Linden Centre in Chelmsford :
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Our other news for February 2021 :
Tracey Gibbon (see photo with son Kyle) is encouraged that The State Hospital is pleased with the "progress" that Kyle is making following his move to a quieter ward. The hospital is starting to think about moving him on, but has not yet looked for a suitable place. The next step is to get him "grounds access" which is difficult because of the lockdown.
Ruth Hughes' solicitor suddenly announced her withdrawal from the case, immediately after a 2 week holiday, one week before a hearing before the Mental Health Tribunal on 2nd March. She has now got a new solicitor and the hearing has been postponed for 4 weeks, but she is finding it difficult to trust any solicitor as she has been let down before.
In retaliation over the press coverage which Ruth has had since September 2020, the clinician in charge of her son Gordon's care is applying to have her removed as Gordon's Named Person. Gordon has made it clear that he hates being at the hospital, does not feel safe there, wants to go home, and wants his Mum to be his Named Person. Nevertheless the Mental Health Officer also thinks that Ruth is not suitable to be his Named Person because the press coverage is "damaging" Gordon. In reality it is only damaging the reputation of the hospital, and the obvious solution is to let him out.