Neighbour with mental health problems - should we have been told and what can we do?

hethmar

Of course you are in the same position, you will be asked if there are any problems with neighbours and well, yes, there are arent there. So if you dont say anything, the next people will also be on here asking if they have recourse against you.

The solicitor doesnt have to ask, the forms you complete SPIF will ask the question.

vicstick86

have you, yourself got in touch with the local social worker? if she is known to them she should be assigned a case worker! You should raise some concerns with them, it may take a while but keep at it!!

it may be a case that the lady needs extra care and this would help to sort the problem.

Does she have any carers that youve noticed coming over, if she does you could mention her behaviour to them.
If not from the sounds of it she would fall into the vunerable adult cat, and social services HAVE to do something !!

emma_jane1987

You could contact the local charity MIND they would probably be able to give you more useful information about where to go and who to seek help off. I think they do a service where people can buddy up with these people (people with non-mental health problems) and they help them in the daily lifes a couple of hours a week. Might not make a huge difference but it might make her house more cleaner and stop the disturbances more often. Also MIND might be able to fight for her to be properly looked after by the government.

cattie

MIND won't intevene in any situation where a person with a mental illness doesn't agree. They do not take referrals from mental health professionals or social workers as the charity exists as a self referral organisation & believes in it's users having autonomy.

This lady could well have refused help from her mental health team or social workers in the past, which could be one reason why she is under nobody's care at the moment. In todays world you have to be seen as being proactive in wanting help with your mental health condition, otherwise the community mental health team will just discharge patients who they feel they cannot help.

Some area's, my own included, have practically no support such as day centres etc for people with mental health issues, so people with no family for support who don't have a cpn/psychiatrist really are just left to get on with it.

If her house is so dirty that it's causing vermin then you might be able to get onto the environmental health department. In some cases they can arrange for people to be sent out to clean up the house, but the owner/tenant is usually billed for the work.

vicstick86

Doesnt it depend what kind of mental illness it is? Because surely capacity comes into it somewhere? Like in a hospital, you are measured to have capacity or not on whether you can make your own decisions?
Im sure the same would go for a an adult that isnt able to look after themselves!

GDB2222

You may well have a claim against your vendors. Dig out the replies to questions before contract. "Is your next door neighbour a loony?" is sadly not one of the standard questions, but there are questions about disputes.

1echidna

I don't know how correct this is but my solicitor said there is no compulsion to fill in such questionaires and people often send them back blank, perhaps with the comment "do your own researches". If this is correct it may be a way out for the OP should she wish to sell.

Whilst some of the comments about this neighbour by the OP do appear a little extreme it is hard to tell whether they are isolated worst incidents or of a more continuous nature. For good reason (if nothing else the outcry which results) mental health services are anxious to avoid patients harming themselves or others in the community. It is also interesting to note that statistically 'patients' are at more of a risk of being harmed by others than harming others. If having a dirty house or being seen in the middle of the road were grounds in themselves for taking someone into care there would be tens of thousands of slovenly or sometimes drunk people in care, although clearly in this lady's case it may be a question of degree. OK this ladyappears very antisocial but has survived 16 years living where she is with apparently hostile neighbours wanting to get rid of her - not a very satisfactory situation, but possibly not a case for removing her from her home against her will.

PixiePie

What's that about caring sharing Britain no longer being around, and there no longer being a community? Ah, yes - the gentle strumming of a completely selfish and up themselves so and so. Poor you - having to live next to a noisy person. Never mind. If she has mental health issues (which seems to be the consensus it would appear) she'll probably top herself or something soonish and then you don't have to worry. As long as she doesn't do it in an inconvenient way, eh?

I am truly appalled not so much at your post and question, rather more the way you phrase it and appear to have no feelings what so ever for others only thinking about living somewhere quiet/clean etc. When someone very close to you suffers from mental health problems, or yourself even, then I'm guessing you won't be so quick to want to shove the problem away - try caring for your neighbour and showing a bit of compassion and perhaps the situation would get better and you could enjoy living in the house you obviously liked enough to move into. Shame on you.

the_other_mce

You should speak to the neighbours GP - and ask if they can refer her to the OLDER PEOPLES MENTAL HEALTH team (they usually only accept referrals from GP's and other professionals). If she has been like this for 15 years she may well have been under another team previously (who may not have followed up on her case). She sounds very distressed at times and I would hate to think that there was no-one prepared to push things along a bit to help her.....

the_other_mce

PixiePie wrote: »

What's that about caring sharing Britain no longer being around, and there no longer being a community? Ah, yes - the gentle strumming of a completely selfish and up themselves so and so. Poor you - having to live next to a noisy person. Never mind. If she has mental health issues (which seems to be the consensus it would appear) she'll probably top herself or something soonish and then you don't have to worry. As long as she doesn't do it in an inconvenient way, eh?

I am truly appalled not so much at your post and question, rather more the way you phrase it and appear to have no feelings what so ever for others only thinking about living somewhere quiet/clean etc. When someone very close to you suffers from mental health problems, or yourself even, then I'm guessing you won't be so quick to want to shove the problem away - try caring for your neighbour and showing a bit of compassion and perhaps the situation would get better and you could enjoy living in the house you obviously liked enough to move into. Shame on you.

I would imagine that it is incredibly stressful and upsetting seeing an old lady standing in the street upset and screaming - with no professionals around to help her..... thats why we have mental health teams! The OP isn't talking about noisy neighbours with motorbikes or music - it's obviously far more complex than that. Caring for her neighbour in this case would be to get the appropriate professionals in to diagnose and help her. A cup of tea, a homecooked cake and a chat over the fence won't do much good in this situation.......