IT is devastating for a mother to watch her son's life being slowly torn apart by mental illness.

When that son is in the care of health workers who admit they are often too scared to treat their patients, the situation becomes unbearable.

Every time she hears the phone ring, Cheryl Macey from Lordshill, Southampton, trembles with fear.

She lives with the constant worry that her son Gary, a patient at Southampton NHS Department of Psychiatry, will take his own life.

She has no confidence in staff at the hospital where her 36-year-old son is being treated.

Gary Macey has paranoid schizophrenia and has received treatment at the hospital for much of 2004.

After his most recent admission he was sectioned for six months.

Yesterday, the Daily Echo revealed the state of conditions at the Royal South Hants Hospital department after obtaining an official document detailing drug and alcohol use on wards, widespread staff vacancies and claims that staff are working in constant fear.

This, just days after the family of patient David Cornford demanded to know why his dead body had been found hanging with a curtain tape at the department.

David Cornford is the fourth patient to have apparently taken his own life while receiving treatment at the department this year.

Mrs Macey, of St Brelades Place, said she was not surprised when she read the news and felt sick to think that it could have been her own son.

She said: "When I saw the Daily Echo front page about David Cornford I thought to myself that it could be Gary next.

"We know how ill he is and he could be suicidal. But is there going to be someone there to make sure he doesn't do anything?

"It's no wonder there are deaths down there. We are not surprised.

"Patients in there are left to their own devices. The staff don't check them enough. How can they check people when they are sitting in the staffroom chatting or doing paperwork?

"It's so upsetting, I don't feel they are getting the care they deserve. We don't feel Gary's safe in there. When you get a phone call you expect to hear he's dead."

Gary's sister, Sharon Baker, who gave up her job as a care worker to spend more time with her brother, says she is "sickened" by conditions on the ward.

She said: "You put them in there hoping they are safe, but they are not.

"The staff have probably got so many patients that it's too much for them."

Gary Macey was first admitted in January. He remained there until April when he was found wandering the streets, claiming he had been thrown out of the department after being involved in a fight.

Mrs Baker took Gary into her Shirley Warren home until his health deteriorated so much that Sharon was forced to lock herself and her three young children into an upstairs bedroom to escape Gary's frightening behaviour.

"He was psychotic," said Sharon. "Later that night we had a call from the neighbours saying Gary had been outside with knives."

He was subsequently sectioned and returned to the department until his

condition stabilised in August.

Once again Sharon let her brother sleep on the sofa at her home, but weeks later he took a frightening turn for the worse.

Sharon said: "On a Sunday night Gary had threatened his girlfriend with knives and I didn't know what was going on. We were frightened for our safety.

"We kept phoning the Department of Psychiatry but no one would take responsibility. We were left with a mentally ill

person in the house from Sunday until Tuesday.

"When I went back to my house from my mum's house on Tuesday, Gary was gone. There was blood and broken razors in the bathroom."

Gary was found roaming the streets by police, taken back to the department and sectioned for six months.

Both Cheryl and Sharon say they are exhausted by the constant worry and are demanding better care at the department.

"We felt a little bit guilty when we read about the latest death," said Mrs Macey.

"We wish we'd said something sooner about the conditions there and drawn some attention to it.

"It's not just for Gary's sake that we are speaking about this, it's for those who have gone before him and for those who will be affected in the future."

STRIVING TO MAKE THINGS BETTER

By Martin Barkley, chief executive of Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust:

It is one of the key aims of the trust to be a centre of excellence for the delivery of mental health services.

In the relatively short period since we were formed in 2001, we have achieved significant improvements in services for people with mental health problems and have a dedicated and professional workforce at all levels.

This progress has been echoed by the Commission for Health Improvement, which conducted a full review of the trust in December 2003 and more recently in the Healthcare Commission's star ratings which awarded the trust two stars (of a possible three) for performance in 2004.

However, we are in no doubt that the trust still has much to do, not least with respect to staffing issues at the Department of Psychiatry.

"We are very much aware of the implications that a shortage of permanent staff can have on the quality of services provided, and we have worked hard to fill the vacant posts.

"Furthermore, in August 2004 we met with staff and trade unions to discuss all issues of concern within the Department of Psychiatry. This has led to several changes including:

Reducing the number of beds on the wards by using increased community support from our new Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Team stopping out-of-area admissions

Compiling daily reports on bed usage, staffing and patient dependency levels - this allows us to make sure no ward is overburdened with higher numbers of dependent patients or agency staff

Introducing a new bleep system (from November 1) so that only senior nurses and senior managers hold the bleep

Reviewing all incidents over the last 12 months to identify learning points

Using sniffer dogs and agreeing to allow the police to use the Department of Psychiatry for their sniffer dog training programme

Working with staff and unions to implement changes to the rota system

Developing a continuous programme of staff clinics.

We also recognise that the Department of Psychiatry was never designed to deliver modern mental health services. That is why in 2002 we started developing business case to replace the Department of Psychiatry with modern, purpose-built facilities.

These measures are already helping to relieve some of the pressures and difficulties under which staff have been working. We will continue to make every effort to attract and retain staff and to improve the environment and services to ensure that the care and treatment provided at the Department of Psychiatry are of the highest standard

I was very anxious to learn about the concerns raised by the family of Mr Macey in relation to his care and treatment at the Department of Psychiatry. I would urge them to make a complaint to us with specific details in order that we can fully investigate their concerns.

I would also like to add that Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust does not tolerate any acts of violence or aggression against any member of staff, other patients or visitors and we will take all necessary steps to deal with such incidents - this may include discharging patients from in-patient care providing they do not meet the necessary criteria to be detained under the 1983 Mental Health Act.