The Newsam Centre - Leeds

David J. W.

Located in the grounds of what is left of Seacroft NHS hospital The Newsome centre is the mental health unit .
The main hospital clock tower is very visible on your left.
When you first enter the grounds using sat nav you are then on your own . It’s not very well signed but if you turn right across the front of the outpatients department and follow the road you will come across a small car park . There is a sign telling you you are at the unit . There are several disabled bays and access up to the unit is wheelchair accessible .
Despite your feelings of trepidation having seen the building site that is Seacroft Hospital with parts demolished and parts boarded up it’s a pleasant surprise to come to the entrance of Newsome which is in good order and appears to have been rebuilt from the ground up !
When you get inside the reception is on your front left where you must sign in and have a valid reason to be there. The unit is secure . We were met by the nurse who showed us where to go and ensured everything was fine during our visit . Booking out also important . Overall a good visit in a modern unit .

paddy D.

The staff assault patients in PICU ward and then lie about it on documents when someone complains. There were marks and when the doctor asked why they were there the staff member denied an altercation. Over 10 accusations made and all of the points denied and all have excuses. Over medicate patients. Patients throwing blood around on tissues which could be infectious and workers need over 8 people to force medication on a patient, when 90% of patients have drug induced psychosis, which could be reversed if left to detox without the meds (the meds in my opinion are harmful, cause extreme weight gain in most cases and cause suicidal thoughts). The workers sneak up behind you and assault you because they need to feel in control as they seem to be unable to take down an extremely sedated patient the way they have been trained.

Callum S.

subject to fictional policy of dr patient seperation. which i only learned recently was never the case.
ward patients only see a doctor once per week under the supervision of 8 other staff members in a meeting called an MDT. all private consultations forbidden. supposedly to preserve a doctors objectivity reviewing second hand information. this does not even make any sense and i questioned the logic of it.

I found out this policy wasnt real through an FOI request, which confirmed that doctors should be on the ward carrying out ward reviews and interacting with patients on a daily basis. The newsome centre also claims to follow the Pippa approach. this is also false. This means patients are expected to have regular contact with psychologists too. completely false none work there and non are assigned to MH teams.
Doctors are forbidden from enterting the ward, and maintain an office off the ward, and the patient is escorted off the ward down a corridor to a meeting room behind a locked security portch. making the patient completely dependent on nursing staff to both enter and exit the meeting. I was overwhelmed by the humiliation of a group psychiatric evaluation and tried to end one meeting but the doctor refused to release me from it unless answered his questions on my personal life, and agreed to his diagnosis.
As well as the inhumain aspect of humiliating vulnerable patients in this mannor, nursing staff are in complete control of what information the doctor receives and used to make decisions on which are made without any prior consultation with the patient. You just turn up to the nurses station to find a change in medication. your told your not entitled to know a reason for the decision and you have to ask permission from the nursing staff to have a messge passed on to the doctor.
Another lie was that i was told PRN medication stood for "prescription requires nurse" and that it needed secondary approval from a nurse after being prescribed by a doctor. This is false its just a phrase to represent a medication not to be taken at a certain time but when the patient requests it.
my prn medication was prescribed specifically to counter the mussle stiffness and spasms brought on by the antipsychotic medication prescribed. but it was hardly ever dispensed. I was told that the secondary nurse approval for prn was being witheld so would "learn the lesson of sleep hygene", and learn to cope with the twitching and insomnia brought on by the other medication.
i only found out recently that PRN medication did not mean this at all which means records have been falsified as it looks like i never requested it.
The culture of complete doctor absence results in abuses because nursing staff are unsupervised and are in complete control of what information the doctor receives, and so the threat of giving the doctor false informatiom, knowing the patient is forbidden direct contact, is use frequently.
for example i was abused by a nurse called caitlin when i was suffering from uncontrolled vomiting from the withdrawal of my previous medication and prescription of the new medication. When i was sick before i could reach the toilet caitlin told me to mop it up or she will tell the doctor fabricated stories that i tried to attack her. If i wasnt trembling with fear with the withdrawl symptoms i would not have complied.
This same nurse also abused another neurodivergent, with one leh, patient in this manor by making subject to frequent urine tests for drugs screenings and would go with him in the toilet cubical and lock the door behind her. he would always be trembling with fear as they exited. but he was extremely vulnerable.
Another nurse glenn also passed false info and would mock me for being unable to contact the doctor directly or speak to him unsupervised.
This place is abuse central and there is a very good reason why every outpatient doctor ive seen dissagrees with the medical opinions of the doctor here. I actually got to consult with them and talk to them properly. do the math! Close this place down!!

Terran E.

The newsome centre has a barbaric policy of clinician shielding to coin a phrase uses regularly by the staff.

Clinician shielding involves a policy of complete seperation of doctors and patients and restricts doctor patient contact to once weekly multidisciplinary team meeting s(MDT)a with all other doctor patient contact being strictly forbidden forcing the patient to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in front of a group of 7 to 12 people.

Patients are told that this is to maintain doctor objectivity so that there review of other staff members observations are objective

This does not make any sense but the reality is that the process is really in place so doctors have the luxury being selective as to what observations are used without exposing themselves to an observation that is inconvenient, to a predetermined diagnosis made in the patients absence.

The doctors will maintain that any/all private consultations are FORBIDDEN and that they are required by regulation to r strict consultations with patients to MDT meetings. no private consulations at all take place between doctors and patients.

It is also used as a means of putting the patient under social pressure and psychological distress so that any distress displayed by the patient can be deliberately misread as part of a mental health disorder. In other words it is used as a means of bullying a vulnerable patient under social pressure. Especially if they have a learning disability.

It also has the advantage of a patient having more difficulty speaking out against a decision he/she disagrees with as the MDT applies group psychological pressure on the patient

The policy of clinician shielding is practised by all doctors at the newsome centre. All patients are restricted to only speaking to there doctors in MDT meetings once weekly with no contact at any other time.

I was on ward 4 in 2019 and the doctor never made an appearance on the ward once. Patients would be escorted off the ward for a once week MDT and if they refuse to see the doctor in this group meeting all chance of seeing a doctor at all is forgot and decisions are then made in there absence.

Doctors who are afraid of direct interaction of there patients are very probably incompetent doctors trying to shield themselves from liability.

So the newsome centre has forbidden all private consultations and restricted all doctor patient contact to group MDTs simply to protect the medical opinions of incompetent doctor's and shield them from direct observations that they are not qualified to deal with.

The institutionalised policy of clinician shielding as described by the staff has no benefits to the patient at all. Its a liability web for the staff and a deliberate means of putting a patient under pressure by forcing all psychiatric evaluations in an MDT group setting with an average of 7 to 13 people in the room commenting and observing. No private consultations take place.

Jade H.

Had referral to leeds gender clinic, had 2 new surgery opinions at the service , was due to have surgery consultation in London in May. Started my transition on 2013, now I've received a letter today due to me being frustrated and told various conflicting information, and wanting to weigh up my options moving forward. They have now revoked my referral without talking to me first, when they had option of placing it on hold and speaking to me and booked me in for a telephone appointment to discuss.

So now will no doubt have to have another 2 new separate opinions, and that will total 5 medical opinions. Then have a psycho evaluation to again ensure I'm ready for surgery then be re-referred to parkside and go back onto their waiting list from scratch. So another unnecessary delay for being frustrated like any normal human being who has a bad day at work or whatever only difference being I started transition in 2013, now in 2022 and in my 30's and facing another 5+ year wait.

So maybe into my 40s now for surgery for a transition started in early 20s. My advice for any person or transgender person reading this is not to show frustration, always seem happy, because if not and you have a bad day on an appointment day you might have to wait an extra 5+ years for being in a bad mood one day .

I've been made to start from scratch, utterly disgusting disgraceful behaviour, I wonder if they themselves have ever had a bad day or been annoyed . I feel that it was all taken away from me for that. It seems that it's best to be like a Vulcan from star trek and not have or show any emotion to them.

Killing J.

After visiting the Newsam Centre for less than a year I can honestly say my mental health improved drastically.

The staff and medical professionals are fantastic and always go out of their way to help. I don't think I'd be alive today without the compassionate support and guidance that was offered to myself.

I had been under mental health services for over 10 years and the Newsam Centre was the only place who got me back on track with my life and provided the correct treatment.

I'll never be able to thank all of you enough for being there.

Zara P.

I can not speak for other services based here however Leeds Gender Identity Service is horrendous and needs a complete overall. Reception staff couldn't care less and only work 10am till 2pm (4hr shift) Mon to Fri and when you ring you can expect to be put through to a voice message stating to come back between 10am and 2pm even though its 10:20, 12pm, or 1pm so communication is poor. Their only Endocrinologist only works one day a week at the service so Hormone Services are poor. They make mistake after mistake and never learn despite having a long list of complaints made to PALS and the Parlimentary Ombudsmen about the service. I have been with the service now 10 YEARS and iam still being ignored and fobbed off by this service who has yet to make a referral to the surgical team. The psychiatrists who make the referral don't care about the person or the referral as they did not listen to me during the mental evaluation and stated I went to a college I had never even heard of, amongst other errors. Many members of staff and patients have left to attend other gender services which tells you everything you need to know really. I am unfortunate as iam unable to change Gender Services due to having to wait further otherwise I would have left a long time ago. I have had 3 TIAs which I believe are unrelated to my Medication and the service has no evidence to suggest otherwise yet the service have used this as an excuse to discontinue treatment and stop my referral being made which means I'am left waiting with Leeds whilst other people jump ahead of me in the waiting list making my wait so much more longer. They and my GP say denying Gender Confirmation Treatments is within my best interests however this is the complete opposite as regardless of my physical and mental health disabilities, I still require these treatments so they are putting my life at risk by treating me this way. The list of errors and poor treatment goes on putting lives at risk. I believe NHSE do not care about transgender individuals as services are getting worse with no appropriately trained or empathetic staff. No funding for Upper Surgeries for transgender women which means many people are left untreated for Gender Dysphoria even after over 10 - 12 years with the service. Still being misgendered and discriminated against by Society, NHSE, GP Practices, Government, Justice Services, Umongst many other public bodies and services all because NHSE and Society are denying us our transition which will lead to increased mental health issues and suicides. If you actually cared you would change but you are NOT.

Vegan F. A. A. H.

I have had a few conversations on the phone with reception staff, the phone is always when I've called answered professionally, and polite, helpfull, and understanding, I feel we are lucky to even have a NHS let alone this particular service,, I hope the future is also good lovely understanding staff xx