NHS chiefs defend Lincolnshire mental health services
As reported in the Echo on Monday, three sex abuse victims from Lincolnshire said a lack of help had left them struggling to recover and waiting months for the right treatment.
The Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust - which provides specialist health services for people with mental health problems - apologised and said the cases would be investigated.
In a statement to the Echo, the trust claimed the "vast majority" of people who used its services were satisfied with the quality of care they received.
But an online and postal survey published by NHS Lincolnshire in March this year revealed that 49 per cent of people rated mental health services as poor.
In total 75 people responded, with 37 criticising the service and a further 18 rating it satisfactory, nine as good and 11 as excellent.
NHS Lincolnshire reported a sample of 359 completed its Dignity and Respect questionnaire.
Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Chris Slavin said the NHS Lincolnshire survey was contradicted by a more recent report.
"We questioned its credibility at the time in respect of the small number of people surveyed and how the data collection method allowed for duplicate entries," he said.
"These findings are completely contradicted by the annual acute inpatient service user's survey undertaken by the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health and adult social care services for England."
City resident Zachary Kellerman, who has used the service for eight years, said he was not surprised to learn nearly 50 per cent of people surveyed had rated the service as poor.
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