The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

Can't begin to state how bad they treat people, both patients and others. Dismissive, insistent and stubborn. Assistant Director of IM & T is one example. They keep falling short of there own clinical targets, how can we have confidence in them with anything else.?

Been waiting over 2 years on the waiting list for the gender clinic, even though they said it would only take 18 months, and when I finally get through they just ignore me. Woman I spoke to said she would send an email with referral details onto the adult clinic, it's been about 3 weeks and she still hasn't sent it. We've emailed all the emails on your website and got no respone, called all the numbers and just got sent to voicemail which never got answered, and I can't call the woman back because she decided to call me with no caller ID. It'd be nice if you people could actually care about your patients and respond to them. I've been waiting 29 months and if you're not going to bother communicating, I might as well just go private.

The Trust's behaviour towards Dr David Bell should make any right thinking person more than suspicious of the current management.

Was seen by a totally incompetent trainee psychiatrist 'Lawrence Congdon' for months that did nothing. Eventually I realised what a sham it was and emailed explaining how I had not even been put on the waiting list for therapy, or given a diagnosis. They were basically pretending that seeing this trainee was their therapy service. Was referred to the consultant psychiatrist, who was so rude as to take phone calls in the appointments. Again wouldn't offer me any help, despite severe self harm and suicidal tendencies, possible borderline personality disorder, bipolar and depression. Eventually I asked to be discharged and self referred to another service, after all of six months - still without even any diagnosis. They blocked my referral, and refused to discharge me. The psychiatrist 'Kim Raftopolos' called up trying to convince me to go on medication. I asked how could I go on medication without any diagnosis? Apparently 'just to take the edge off' - whatever that means. Tried to get discharged again and they never responded. Haven't heard anything at all since then, all of two months - shows what care they had for me. The receptionist Cherelle Remy also cares much more about her hair and nails than anything else. Good luck if you have an appointment at 09:00 - she doesn't ever turn up until 09:10, so you can never sign in, or anything, even when she tells you by email that you have to turn up at 08:50 to do the paperwork! She treats all the mental health patients like untouchables - like she's afraid that she's going to catch a mental health disease by talking or looking at anyone. And all your correspondence goes through a shared email address. Brilliant for confidentiality! And despite everything that I have said, they haven't even logged my email as a complaint. Pretty terrible really. Like so many other mental health services in the country now, they spend all their money and time trying to 'show' that they are functional by having all these letters, names, appointments, logos, etc etc, but actually do not offer any help at all. Shams, in other words. The NHS now is not a towering healthcare institution - 'the envy of the world' as it was called. It is just a huge billboard with an NHS logo on it, from the front seeming like still, yes, it is the envy of the world, but behind this billboard everyone has deserted it, there is nothing, no help, no professionals, and it is only a matter of time before this billboard collapses into the ground and everything is exposed for what it really is - nothing.

I cannot even begin to explain what a terrible experience It was to be a patient at the Tavistock.