Over the last two years, my sister — diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder — has been repeatedly failed by the mental health system.

After losing her job, home, family ties, and her mother to cancer (with serious mistreatment in hospital), she battled her way back with the right medication.

But the moment she began to recover, support dropped away.

When she stopped her meds earlier this year, care workers knew but failed to act.

She was encouraged to self-medicate with cannabis instead of receiving proper therapy or psychiatric help.

She received only sporadic visits, no therapy, no safeguarding.

Now she has fully relapsed — risking eviction, homelessness, and losing custody of her young daughter.

Worse, emergency response teams miscommunicated across boroughs, causing days of delay.
Even now, urgent mental health assessments are stalled because “senior staff don’t work weekends.”

In 2025, in Britain, it is outrageous that people in severe mental health crisis are left abandoned because of poor planning, staff shortages, and systemic negligence.

I have lodged formal complaints to NHS Trust leadership, PALS, and local MPs.
But this is bigger than one case — the system is not working for vulnerable people when they need it most.

If you have been affected by similar failures, or work in healthcare and see the problems from the inside, I would love to hear your experiences too.

Mental health deserves better.