Cygnet Hospital Godden Green

My first contact with Cygnet was via a telephone conversation where I questioned why there where so many negative reviews.. the answer was that one shouldn’t trust Google reviews. Having experienced the type of care provided during the past 8 months I can affirm that the incompetence at Cygnet Godden Green knows no bounds throughout their entire provision structure. One has to feel for some of the HCA’s and RMN’s who were trying their best and appeared to care but were being let down by their superiors who set the directives. Knole Ward was so unsettled and unsafe at the end that at times they had to resort on police intervention to restore order. One only have to ask the question how the ward management allow all of this to unfold. The main psychiatrist consultant at Cygnet carries on the ineptitudes, arrogant against staff and patronizing patients, she might have knowledge of a vast array of psychiatric conditions but certainly has no practical knowledge of quirks and needs in ASD girls, and no working knowledge of how to handle them, concentrated on the outcome of the depression not the cause. More worryingly, nobody at Cygnet seems to recognize the difference between the needs of a girl with ASD vs a neurotypical girl which is exactly why Cygnet fail to help those children instead resorting to over use of sedatives. Children with ASD are driven by their anxieties, need stability, routine and there are basic ways to support them. If anybody at Cygnet understood the fundamentals of positive behavior and support for those with ASD, they would know that those children are enduring the polar opposite of that in their care and will leave traumatized by the experience. The ward regime is about endless punishments, no visitors, no mobile phone….cutting children her off from their family, friends and everything in normal life whilst making sure they feel it’s their fault. It is horribly reminiscent of the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary that uncovered the same ‘handling’ at St Andrews Residential Unit where parents were equally unable to remove their children despite the full and certain knowledge it was doing much more harm to them, causing them long term trauma. There is too much emphasis on people spinning the truth to keep their jobs safe so it pays the petrol for their expensive Porsche; with a total disregard for properly supporting the patients mental wellbeing. Shame on you Cygnet Godden Green

Both adolescent wards (Knole and Riverhead) at Cygnet Godden Green have been closed by the CQC and the hospital is under investigation. Dear CQC for the safety and wellbeing of young people who inadvertently could end up there please shut the door on Cygnet and throw away the key.

The staff here were lovely (shout to lou, fallon, Imogen, kate, Katie, Shaz, Juliet, wez, chloe, jess, jessie, toni, jovien, Dulice, John, Alice) made my exprience pleasent cant see why the recent event of this place clossing but there was nothing wrong with golden green CQC ruinied it for all the young people there at the time including me, goldern green has changed my life for the better i think it should still have a aderlecent ward as it has done good

The HCAs (shoutouts to Gus, Nelson, Sonya, Justin, Danielle, Katie, Chelsea, Dulcie, Yaibi, Megan) we’re truly the only people who made this experience bearable. The treatment was basically non existent and there was a great deal of medical negligence as well an inefficient process of psychological review and diagnosis. I was put under a section 2 for the primary reason of the doctors not creating a robust discharge plan which allowed a safe transition into the community which extended my admission from 2 weeks until 6 weeks and a lack of assessment of my risk despite me having no incidents during my stay and no history of self harm as well as no ‘disorders’ of a degree or nature of hospitalization, which was confirmed at my discharge CPA. Within my stay I was only given three individual psychology sessions and my medication was never reviewed. I left without a proper diagnosis and with a lot more trauma since an acute ward tends to have a lot of intense events occur on a daily basis. Getting hold of a doctor and consultant is incredibly difficult and the hospital is just majorly understaffed. There aren’t a Available doctors or consultants at night or during the weekends which is incredibly problematic. The high stress of the environment caused me to have sharp chest pains which was a result of me internalizing my anxiety so I didn’t trigger other patients with panic attacks which in turn caused a relapse in my eating disorder and actually increased my suicidal ideation, with the fear of a Section 3 or a second admission being my only deterrent of engaging in self harm or any sort of self destructive behavior. Being locked up in a psychiatric ward surrounded by trauma and being made to question your own sanity whilst being cut away from the outside world doesn’t make people want to be alive and prevents people from having a real perception of life. There is a reason as to why ex-patients are so much worse when they leave. Confinement isn’t a form of treatment and although it is important to prioritize safeguarding it is also a lot more important to make the patients feel like humans and to feel like life is worth living rather than inadvertently using fear to prevent people from harming themselves. Dr Boby Paul and Dr Moradekee Joaquim weren’t transparent with me about my treatment and their thoughts and when they had noticed concerning things they didn’t do anything about them. There weren’t very attentive or proactive and weren’t even aware of my home leaves and refused to give me a care plan or a ward round after weeks of me asking. This could be a result of being understaffed and complications due to covid-19 but regardless of reason, it is still unacceptable as they are responsible for the well-beings and long term futures of patients in the hospital. I believe more mandatory individual therapy/psychology sessions (twice a week probably) as well as more organized occupational therapy activities would be a great start to improving the ward environment and providing a better path to recovery without the risk of mental health deterioration. An increased outdoor space which extends to the fields and forests of the area would reduce the caged feel of the hospital and would actually improve the general atmosphere of the ward, as well as encouraging people to spend more time outside which is proven to be highly beneficial to your wellbeing. Also a more balanced and healthy diet should be provided since the food is incredibly processed.

i got ptsd from my time here. enough said.