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Wow!! Have heard it all now whenever my Son has been detained on a section it takes him all his time to keep his eyes open and eat and drink, as he is heavily medicated never mind writing CV’s for a job he wouldn’t be able to do due to his anxiety of leaving the house, you couldn’t make this dribble up!! 

Having worked for DWP, knowing what the Work Coaches jobs entail, I would refuse to go into a mental health ward!  For goodness sake, these patients are very unwell people!  Why go for vulnerable human beings!?  Go for tax dodgers, worth millions!!!  Labour is meant to be for the working class, so far a joke!  The PIP vouchers are another major joke.  I wrote to Labour about that, from a disabled person and a manager with DWP to give both points of view!!!  Doctors and nurses would also not be happy if a work coach came on their ward.  Privacy is extremely important. Labour has to look at the basics, before it comes up with utter garbage! 

People need to ignore the media I'd like to say that it's been noticed they went from 1.3bn cuts to 3bn also in these reports the head line looks worse then people see in the storys it's saying things like reeves could cut welfare or is eyeing up cuts they keep changing then it goes quiet then these live discussions they do nothing it's reporters guessing then you got reporters saying Kendal could send work coaches to wards then others say it's happening the media never guessed reeves suprise attack on winter fuel payment people need to shut off from the media they take a single whiff of info or speculation and twist it .

I wonder what she has in store for people with mental health issues who are not sectioned in psychiatric units!

This is a disgusting idea which may drive some vulnerable people to take their lives. This abuse of disabled people with mental health conditions should be challenged in the courts as it conforms to the recent UN report on the UK (April 2024) which stated that disabled people in the UK face systemic violations of their human rights.

I will be totally honest it's hard enough to convince me that I am ill enough to need to go into a mental health unit. 

What a brilliant idea!! Make people with mental health issues increase their anxiety levels so even those who are relatively 'well' end up very stressed. As most people who are in mental health settings are sectioned the likelihood of work coaches meeting up with them are very low. I thought the Labour party might be more sensible than the Conservatives but clearly not.

All what Liz Kendall is parroting come from the report of Alain Millburn:

As a person who works on mental health wards and who has supported patients to try and steer their way through the many barriers and obstacles to make a universal credit claim, my experience tells me this is a potentially lethal idea.  Does DWP not grasp the reasons why people are in psychiatric hospitals?  I have met patients who are thought disordered and unable to put a logical sentence together, patients who are so depressed that they just want to die, patients who have no insight and think they can take on the world, when in reality they struggle to manage even their most basic self-care needs.  Psychiatric hospitals are for mentally ill people to recover from or stabilise their mental health condition, not a potential job seekers club.  Yes, being employed brings routine, income and purpose, however the system is not set up to realistically support people to test out their ability to work within a financial/benefit safety net.   I recall an ex-patient who was delighted to be offered a low paid part time job, only to be subsequently hit with a full council tax bill, that not only placed them into financial difficulty but also had a detrimental effect to their mental health.  The person had to give up their treasured job (that had boosted their self-esteem and confidence) and return to unemployment due to unaffordability.  Great that the DWP want to help people into work, but look at the system in place first and how it continually fails to fully understand and meet the needs of vulnerable people.

Gimmicks to put the frighteners on people. We are not living in "1984."

I would be interested to hear from all the employers willing to offer positions to people with serious mental health conditions. Surely this is a joke. 

The most ridiculous idea ever. For MH patients to be hospitalised they are in a serious crisis, undiagnosed, severe self harming or have attempted to end their lives. Last thing thing they need is a work coach harrassing them. 😤

Surely if you are ill enough to be an inpatient on a mental health ward, there is no way you are in a fit state to even think about returning to work.  It’s not as if we have so many mental health beds that people are occupying them who aren’t gravely ill.

If people on a mental health ward haven't been fully assessed and diagnosed by a professional psychologist, DWP won't get anywhere near them. If they have been assessed and diagnosed they are likely to be in receipt of high rate pip given they were able to get one of the very few beds there is in a NHS hospital. They should be trying to reach those closest to the job market. I worked for an organisation funded by government many years ago. They worked in tandem with GPS and it was completely voluntary. Anyone in receipt of sick pay would be given a leaflet by their GP, but only if they believed it would be helpful. The individual would (or would not) decide to come along to find out if the organisation could help them back in to work. Everyone was categorised A to E, A being nearest to a return to work. There were job coaches, welfare rights, OTs and links to numerous other agencies. It was completely voluntary. It was a very successful programme but the government changed and the funding slowly disappeared. Labour have seriously let themselves down on this one. They need to stop throwing poorly thought out ideas into the public domain. 

Trust me [and i used to work in a psychiatric hospital] IT WILL NOT HAPPEN. The staff will not allow them on the wards due to patient confidentiality. 2, The staff are too busy to get involved with this crap. 3, no, they will not get to sit in on CPA/CTP meetings either for the same reasons.. All nonsense..

This is another insane idea. People must have to fully consent to this. I've only read the BBC article but surely people in hospital have a protected status and right to privacy. 

Perhaps if they spent that money on providing mental health services to get people better then people could get themselves back into work. I have been battling to get MH support for 7 years now and am getting nowhere. I am desperate to be well enough to go back to work, ai want my life back, but wherever I turn I get no support. My GP is working really hard to support me too but is getting knocked back constantly by MH services. It's a waste of NHS money being spent refusing care when I could have been treated by now and back into the workforce. The whole system is broken.

I have to laugh at this. My son was in a mental health ward for 2 months, I visited almost every day. 

BBC still spinning their pro-Tory propaganda

Wouldn't it be more appropriate not to add more pressure on those trying to get well and if this means harassment then I see the courts getting involved and what happens if a patient isn't well enough?