Parkview Clinic
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Based on 2 reviews
Reviews (2)
Best Psychiatric Ward I have been on
October 18, 2022
I have been in three mental health hospitals since November 2020, and I can honestly say Parkview Clinic has been the best one.
The school services at the hospital were good. The teachers were lovely, and you could study with them on the ward or go over to the school building. If you were on constant observation or weren't allowed grounds leave, then you couldnt go over to the school. They supported me with planning my A-Levels, and also pursuing my interest in art and music.
We had a lot of activity groups throughout the week. On a Wednesday, the youth worker would come in and play games with us. On Monday, Quench music came in to make music with us. One of the staff nurses was a zumba instructor, so whenever she could she would do zumba with us. A few times a boxing instructor came to the unit. We also had TVs in the lounges and PlayStations, so we were pretty much never bored.
We always had the opportunity to speak up about issues on the ward. Every week we had a community meeting, where we talked about what was going well and what wasn't. The ward manager always sat in on these, and personally I felt very listened to.
The food wasn't the best really. In terms of nutrition, the menu wasn't very balanced. Most of the time the portion sizes were far too small for a group of growing teens. Parents could bring in snacks for us, and they were kept in a locked cupboard that was only opened twice a day between meals. Staff would kind of monitor what you ate, advising you if they thought you were having too much sugar etc.
Of course, Parkview has its faults, but it really is a good place, as good as a psych ward can be anyway. It could be extremely stressful, due to staff shortages, as well as the alarms etc going off when patients were struggling, but I'm sure all psych hospitals are suffering with these issues. Anyway, that's my two cents on the issue.
The school services at the hospital were good. The teachers were lovely, and you could study with them on the ward or go over to the school building. If you were on constant observation or weren't allowed grounds leave, then you couldnt go over to the school. They supported me with planning my A-Levels, and also pursuing my interest in art and music.
We had a lot of activity groups throughout the week. On a Wednesday, the youth worker would come in and play games with us. On Monday, Quench music came in to make music with us. One of the staff nurses was a zumba instructor, so whenever she could she would do zumba with us. A few times a boxing instructor came to the unit. We also had TVs in the lounges and PlayStations, so we were pretty much never bored.
We always had the opportunity to speak up about issues on the ward. Every week we had a community meeting, where we talked about what was going well and what wasn't. The ward manager always sat in on these, and personally I felt very listened to.
The food wasn't the best really. In terms of nutrition, the menu wasn't very balanced. Most of the time the portion sizes were far too small for a group of growing teens. Parents could bring in snacks for us, and they were kept in a locked cupboard that was only opened twice a day between meals. Staff would kind of monitor what you ate, advising you if they thought you were having too much sugar etc.
Of course, Parkview has its faults, but it really is a good place, as good as a psych ward can be anyway. It could be extremely stressful, due to staff shortages, as well as the alarms etc going off when patients were struggling, but I'm sure all psych hospitals are suffering with these issues. Anyway, that's my two cents on the issue.
A Nightmare
April 11, 2022
I had a stay in Parkview clinic, on the Irwin Unit for about 8 months. During that time, I found it an incredibly stressful environment and was exposed to a lot of things that I do not feel any person, let alone a child, should ever ever have to hear or witness. I will not go into said things here but please bear this, and the rest of this review in mind, if you are thinking of conditioning your child to this place.
It was often short staffed, with staff from agencies having to be brought in daily. These agency staff were clearly untrained and often upset patients with the things they said or did. Some of the regular staff also sometimes didn't act in the patients best interests. However, as a whole, most of the regular staff were great and did their best, all things considering. But, when the way the treatment works is broken, the very system rotted to its core, even the kindest staff can't do much.
The consultants there were byproducts of this broken system, incompetence and, frankly, carelessness ran those halls. To be honest, it did feel like the consultants and most of the ones in power there didn't really care. The patient was just another name. Another list of checkboxes to be ticked. If you couldn't or wouldn't conform to said checkboxes or were neurodivergent in any way, like me, then expect a complete lack of understanding. Part of the reason I was kept there for so long was due to this. They kept trying to cage me into this box, this specific way of treatment, that I just couldn't fit in, no matter how hard I tried.
The therapies offered there were basically the only mental treatment received, other than being shot full of meds. Which is a shame because many, if not all of the psychologists there, were disingenuous, and did not care. At all. Probably due to the ASD diagnosis, I got treated like a toddler by a lot of these people. This was especially infuriating considering the fact this place is supposed to be one of the leading units in terms of autism. I ended up just not going to any of these therapies, with the exception of speech and language - the therapy regarding ASD. These therapies served to only make me more distressed and did not help anything whatsoever.
The rules there were restrictive and only stood to make things harder. Eg: everyone had to sit in one of two communal areas at all times, not allowed any privacy or safespace. I was lucky as I was able to negotiate time to sit alone in my room. This kind of 'privilege' was not given to others. You may not think this is that big of a deal, even a good thing as the assumption is that everyone was monitored constantly. We weren't. We were all left to our own devices. What's even the point of this if we weren't monitored? If you leave a bunch of mentally ill, extremely at risk kids alone together for over 12 hours every day with no downtime, what do you think is going to happen?
In summary, the unit was a distressing environment. Often, I did not feel safe there. I felt terrified, on high alert all the time. Alone and without support or the comfort of family, friends and just being at home.
This unit is apparently considered to be one of the 'best'. If this is the best, if people PAY to send their children here, god only knows what any other unit could be like.
It was often short staffed, with staff from agencies having to be brought in daily. These agency staff were clearly untrained and often upset patients with the things they said or did. Some of the regular staff also sometimes didn't act in the patients best interests. However, as a whole, most of the regular staff were great and did their best, all things considering. But, when the way the treatment works is broken, the very system rotted to its core, even the kindest staff can't do much.
The consultants there were byproducts of this broken system, incompetence and, frankly, carelessness ran those halls. To be honest, it did feel like the consultants and most of the ones in power there didn't really care. The patient was just another name. Another list of checkboxes to be ticked. If you couldn't or wouldn't conform to said checkboxes or were neurodivergent in any way, like me, then expect a complete lack of understanding. Part of the reason I was kept there for so long was due to this. They kept trying to cage me into this box, this specific way of treatment, that I just couldn't fit in, no matter how hard I tried.
The therapies offered there were basically the only mental treatment received, other than being shot full of meds. Which is a shame because many, if not all of the psychologists there, were disingenuous, and did not care. At all. Probably due to the ASD diagnosis, I got treated like a toddler by a lot of these people. This was especially infuriating considering the fact this place is supposed to be one of the leading units in terms of autism. I ended up just not going to any of these therapies, with the exception of speech and language - the therapy regarding ASD. These therapies served to only make me more distressed and did not help anything whatsoever.
The rules there were restrictive and only stood to make things harder. Eg: everyone had to sit in one of two communal areas at all times, not allowed any privacy or safespace. I was lucky as I was able to negotiate time to sit alone in my room. This kind of 'privilege' was not given to others. You may not think this is that big of a deal, even a good thing as the assumption is that everyone was monitored constantly. We weren't. We were all left to our own devices. What's even the point of this if we weren't monitored? If you leave a bunch of mentally ill, extremely at risk kids alone together for over 12 hours every day with no downtime, what do you think is going to happen?
In summary, the unit was a distressing environment. Often, I did not feel safe there. I felt terrified, on high alert all the time. Alone and without support or the comfort of family, friends and just being at home.
This unit is apparently considered to be one of the 'best'. If this is the best, if people PAY to send their children here, god only knows what any other unit could be like.
