Leigh House Hospital

Awful. I was put in for an eating disorder 9 years ago and im still mentally effected by my poor experience and feel worse off then I did before entering. The whole system needs a re boot and staff need to listen to patients rather then make up what they want to hear.

Someone needs to investigate this place, because it appears nothing has changed over the ten years since I've been there, and the abusive way it treats its patients should not be acceptable in this day and age. I'm not exaggerating, something is not right with this place.

This is awful place do not trust them with your children they will come out worse needs shutting down

Was there for two weeks after being transferred from another unit so I was closer to home to get help for my substance abuse issues ended up getting told multiple times in my first week there that “this isn’t a rehab or a detox Center” which just made me feel even worse. Only a few staff members there actually generally cared but not a lot. Got told I wasn’t allowed a KitKat because I wasn’t there for an eating disorder even though I’m underweight. I pretty much didn’t even properly for the two weeks I was there I probably only had about 2-4 full meals when I was there. The cooks were really nice and would make me Sandwiches instead of the meal of the day because they knew I struggled with eating. I still couldn’t eat properly and would have about 3-5 bites of the Sandwiches and bin it afterwards and only the cooks noticed. The only time staff really ever noticed is because I didn’t eat for two days so my pulse was really high. They wanted to give me home leave after just two days of being there and would constantly bug me about going out and spending time with my family. They wanted to give me home leave where I wasn’t allowed to leave my house and only spend time with my parents which both me and my parents said multiple times that never happens at home so why should I do that when I’m on leave if it’s not going to be like that when I get discharged because it generally wouldn’t. I got told off so many times for wearing shorts and fishnet tights and they would over react and say that I “can’t wear short short shorts on the ward because it’s inappropriate” I asked if it was because I have self harm scars and because I’m physically small they said no it’s just inappropriate. I wasn’t allowed to go to over to my ECS group unless I changed out of my shorts so I just didn’t go. I would get told of for wearing a crop top that shows less than an inch of my stomach because it could trigger the girls that are there for eating disorders. I honestly didn’t feel safe there whatsoever I could never be myself without getting told off. I got told off for being sarcastic, I had one of the night staff nurses at one point try to make me feel guilty for the fact that she gave me an extra half hour to watch a movie and she still try to make me feel bad for not wanting to take my night time meditation straight away. If you did do what some of the staff said straight away they’d put in the notes for the other staff that you and the other young people there were being disrespectful and rude even when we weren’t. Every time I questioned something that I didn’t feel was right some of the staff would go “That’s the rules of Leigh House and you have to follow them” even if the rules were completely unjustified and straight up morally wrong they’d just tell the other staff you were being disrespectful and again you’d get told off. I could never do anything right. I felt like I was being sexualised constantly for wearing stuff that barley showed any skin and I honestly felt like I was one of the young people they cared about least. On top of that the way they attempt to help people with eating disorders there is horrific. I was never there for an eating disorder but I was still given a booklet when I got there about the rules they have for them there. For example ; How everybody that was on the table for eating disorders (Postive Eating Program/PEG) had to wait until everyone was at the table so they could all eat together and how they have a time limit of how long they have to eat their meals when they are given food three times the size of all the other patience’s that weren’t on PEG so if they were waiting 25 minutes for somebody to go to the table they’d have to be staring at their food for 25 minutes and then only have five minutes to eat all of it. They’re only allowed a small cup full of water/juice etc... and if they were still thirsty then they’d only be allowed half a small cup of water. This place is honestly horrific and NEEDS TO BE SHUT DOWN

Leigh House saved my daughters life❤️, She had a six months stay, two of which were in a wheelchair, while battling with anorexia. They put her onto the early stages of recovery, learning to feed and teaching me how to make and follow a feeding chart at home. It was an extremely difficult time but we put our trust in their system. The amazing staff work hard on the eating disorder unit and for that I am extremely grateful. It's now two and a half years since she was discharged from Leigh House and she has traveled a long way since in her recovery. Today I am driving four hours away from home to take her to university, a journey we would not be on, if she had not gone into Leigh House, where they saved her life❤️💚💛💜💙