I read with interest the letters about psychiatric care in the NHS (11 July), prompted by Rachel Clarke’s review of Bella Jackson’s book Fragile Minds (A furious assault on NHS psychiatry, 30 June). I have not read the book but, as a long-term psychiatric patient, I would like to make two points.
First, care naturally varies in quality, suitability and success. Following three years in unsatisfactory private care (after many previous years in NHS care), I have happily returned to the NHS. I find its care superior, but hamstrung by limited resources, which can mean waiting many months for an appointment. But I have never been treated badly, as Jackson suggests is common, even when in the worst state.
