Decision Report 201906670

Summary

C, an advocacy worker, complained on behalf of their client (A) about the community mental health services provided to A by the partnership. C complained that the consultant's assessment of A was unreasonable as they only met once during a 45-minute consultation. C also complained that the partnership's decision to withdraw their community psychiatric nurse (CPN) support was unreasonable as they had been finding this support to be beneficial.

The partnership confirmed that they were satisfied that the assessment of A's condition was made by a suitably qualified person and they had adequate information available to them in order to reach their conclusions. They explained that the decision to withdraw CPN support was due to A's poor engagement with the supports offered to them.

We took independent advice from a consultant psychiatrist (a doctor specialising in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental ill health conditions). We concluded that the person who assessed A was appropriately qualified to reach their conclusions and the assessment contained sufficient information to support their clinical diagnosis. We also found that the reasons for withdrawn CPN support were reasonable as there was evidence that A was not engaging well with the service. As such, we did not uphold the complaints.