A Darlington woman claims that she was “continuously failed”  by staff at an NHS Trust, and that she was “manipulated and abused”.

Sammie Wilson, 28, told The Northern Echo that whilst she received outpatient care out of West Park Hospital in Darlington, she was “abused” by staff, who, she claims, would shout, slam phones down, and use triggers and past traumas to manipulate her.  

She also claims that staff failed to safeguard her from abuse, even when she asked for help and protection.

Sammie believes that the hospital needs to be “reformed or shut down”.

The Northern Echo: Sammie has said she has finally started smiling again.Sammie has said she has finally started smiling again. (Image: Handout)

Read more: Family claim West Park hospital, Darlington, was 'compassionless'

In response, Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) has said they “cannot comment on specific claims”, but has insisted that they provide “high quality, safe and compassionate care”.

This criticism comes off the back of widespread scrutiny for TEWV, the trust that runs mental health and learning disability services in County Durham and Darlington.

Last month, a damning report deemed some areas of the mental health provision at another hospital previously run by TEWV to be “ultimately damaging to patients.”

An independent investigation found that the 2019 deaths of Christie Harnett, and Nadia Sharif, both 17, were the result of the care provided at West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough.

The Northern Echo has since been contacted by a number of people wanting to share their experiences.

Sammie first received care from TEWV in 2020, during a turbulent time in her life. Despite the extreme circumstances regarding her mental health, she says she was refused a bed in West Park Hospital, though was treated as an outpatient by staff.

The Northern Echo: West Park Hospital.West Park Hospital. (Image: Sarah Caldecott)

For more quality journalism, subscribe to The Northern Echo for £1.50 a week here. 

She said: “I was badly abused in 2021, but when I asked staff at West Park for help, they just disappeared my care. I was continuously failed by the people who were supposed to help me.

“I’d ring up for help and slam the phone down on me.

“They just have no idea how to deal with someone when they are upset. I have been in the middle of a breakdown when staff have started to shout at me.

“I have told them that I have trigger words and trauma responses, but they’ll still use them to manipulate. They’ll call me by the wrong name, a name I find upsetting, on purpose even though I have explained why it upsets me.”

When Sammie’s brother took his own life, she phoned up her mental health services “begging” to move her appointment with her Community Psychiatric Nurse to her home as she was grieving.

Read more: 'Failures' exposed at West Lane Hospital before deaths of three girls

“But they did nothing – and when I missed an appointment because I was picking up my brother’s ashes, they terminated all my care," she added.

Sammie has said that the lack of care at West Park has had a long-term impact on her life. She claims that ill mental health prevented her from finishing a course to be a support worker and counsellor.  

“My mental health has stopped my education, but I am the way I am because I never received any care," she said.

“There have been times that I was promised cognitive or dialectical behavioural therapy, but it never went anywhere. When I asked for autism and ADHD referrals I was denied.

“They are so unwilling to help.”

Read next: 

Patrick Scott, managing director of the Durham, Tees Valley and Forensics care group at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust said:

“We are really sorry that Sammie didn’t receive the level of care that she expected from us.

“Although we can’t comment on specific claims, we listen and act on the voices of the people we support, their families and carers. This helps us provide a better experience of high-quality, safe and compassionate care.”