Jocelyn Solly House, Macclesfield, 23 November 2007
Macclesfield MP Sir Nicholas Winterton officially opened Jocelyn Solly House on Friday 30th November 2007. Before an audience of service managers, clinicians, support staff, clients and local media, he gave a speech in which he praised the Centre as an excellent way of improving mental health services in Macclesfield for years to come.
He also made some remarks about where he felt the service could be further improved and where mistakes had been made in the past, even by his own party.
After being conducted on a tour of the facilities already in place and those which will be up and running at the centre in the coming months, he was kind enough to spare a few minutes of his time to be interviewed by members of the Inner Mind team. Along with newsletter editor Melissa Nowell were reporter Richard Muirhead and Blogger Martyn Hughes. After an informal chat about us (during which he made some comments on community that I think are relevant to mental health), the newsletter and about voluntary work, we got on with the questions.
Melissa Nowell:
We’ve got questions and I eavesdropped on you actually answering one of them, which is Martyn’s question, but the first one will be about the overall appearance and ambience of the place [Jocelyn Solly House]: what do you think about it?
Sir Nicholas Winterton:
I think it’s a modern, attractive, welcoming centre. To me, a lot of thought has gone into the design of this particular mental health resource centre and I think that it will be well used and it will be of great benefit to the area and those who suffer from whatever form of mental illness. It’s going to be primarily adult and elderly, but you know there is huge scope here. I’ve just been in the part of the centre which deals with what I would describe as [eating disorders]. The majority of those hitherto – this is interesting – that have had this problem have been young women, but of course it is increasingly young men who, it isn’t that they starve themselves: they will go to the gym and take excessive exercise to burn off all the calories that they are actually bringing in through whatever they’re eating. So I think the range…it’s a multidisciplinary centre and obviously, therefore, virtually anything relating to mental illness can be dealt with, assessed and treated from here, but the other thing I said when I opened the centre is, I still believe there is a need for residential care. For some people suffering from mental illness, particularly schizophrenics, they need tranquillity, they need certainty, they need security and they need an environment because - I learned this from some psychiatrists that over the years I’ve met – that a peaceful environment can have…is part of the therapy that is used to treat some people with a particular form of mental illness.
Again, I know one of the questions that you’re interested in is stigma. I have to say because, perhaps, I have been very involved in and interested in this whole area, I don’t myself see, perceive or come across stigma any longer for those who suffer from mental illness. I think that the public have become much more aware that mental illness can affect every family in the country: it isn’t an isolated disease or problem and therefore there is not today the stigma that used to be attached, according to some people – not all people – to those who suffer from mental illness. And again, because many more people are dealt with in the community, it’s all part of a health service, whether you’ve got a physical disability, whether you’ve got a mental disability, it’s all part of a service and it’s much more readily accepted and understood. But bear in mind if you take particularly dementia, Jocelyn Solly House as it was, was set up to assess those with dementia and Alzheimer’s and therefore, where people before would have been…people would say ‘locked away’, they have been part of families and many more families have realised that those who previously were not seen in the public, it’s now accepted, therefore there isn’t the stigma attached. What I do say is that it’s like deafness in a way. If you’re blind, that’s a perceived disability and people are instinctively sympathetic and understanding. If you’re deaf, it isn’t a perceived handicap, and sometimes also mental illness isn’t a perceived disease. But it is a disease, and it’s a treatable disease, and it’s something that is treated under the National Health Service as any other ailment, disease, physical problem is dealt with and therefore I think while there may be a handful of people who will raise their hands if they come across someone with a mental illness, overwhelmingly the stigma that was associated with mental illness has gone.
Richard Muirhead:
Yes, as a more generalised question; do you ever get nervous before opening establishments or making a speech in parliament or in public, or is it second nature to you? Do you have any tips for public speaking?
SirNW:
‘Do you get nervous?’ The answer is not nervous but if you just have a little sort of feeling in your inside when you’re going to speak in public, even if you’ve been doing it as I have for 40 years, the answer is yes, you do; you just have that little bit of tension that, to put it bluntly, that makes you do your best. If you were totally relaxed, couldn’t care less, you wouldn’t be giving of your best: you would just take it for granted, so to feel just a little tension, a little apprehensive is a good thing and therefore I believe that what you say will come across more forcefully, more sincerely and therefore it’s a good thing. Like today, I was honoured to have been invited to open this new facility, but I have some quite critical things to say, but not critical destructive, but critical because I was reflecting what people like yourselves might have said to me, and with the likes of David Eva, the Chairman here, and Peter Cubbon, the Chief Executive here, and others who are associated with the provision of mental health services, I was able to say in front of an audience of providers and clinicians the sort of concerns that have been expressed to me. The availability for instance of special facilities in Lime Walk, for those suffering from schizophrenia and other not dissimilar mental health problems. You know, I think it’s important that there is – how do I put it? – accommodation for them in an area where they feel secure, where they feel safe, where they know and where there is an environment which is therapeutically beneficial.
So as regards the last part of your question, can I say if you want to be appreciated, if you want to be understood, say what you believe, say it with sincerity and don’t say things that you don’t believe purely to appeal to the audience. Take the opportunity to speak your mind; never be told what to say because people won’t trust you. As I said today, not everyone agreed with everything that I said and there are counter-arguments to one or two of the issues – I know that – that I raised when I spoke today, but I took the opportunity of making a serious speech, not just saying ‘this is a wonderful mental health resource centre; I congratulate all those involved;’ you know, ‘wonderful drawings and pictures all produced by those from Rosemount; and the flowers and all the flowerbeds all done locally – wonderful.’ It is wonderful and it’s great that they’ve been involved, but I took the opportunity to make some serious comments because I wanted people to realise that mine is not just a superficial interest, it is a deep-seated, long-standing interest and as I said right at the end [of the speech], I want to see the best possible facility for those suffering from whatever form it is of mental illness here in east Cheshire and Macclesfield. To have the best possible treatment and facilities, and so from my point of view: be sincere, speak your mind, be honest and don’t say things that you don’t believe.
MN:
Thank you very much.
So I didn’t get to ask my question about stigma, but it was dealt with by Sir Nicholas as part of his first answer, and that’s the important thing, even if some of us don’t agree with all he said on the matter. Any comments?
Posted by Martyn Hughes.
He also made some remarks about where he felt the service could be further improved and where mistakes had been made in the past, even by his own party.
After being conducted on a tour of the facilities already in place and those which will be up and running at the centre in the coming months, he was kind enough to spare a few minutes of his time to be interviewed by members of the Inner Mind team. Along with newsletter editor Melissa Nowell were reporter Richard Muirhead and Blogger Martyn Hughes. After an informal chat about us (during which he made some comments on community that I think are relevant to mental health), the newsletter and about voluntary work, we got on with the questions.
Melissa Nowell:
We’ve got questions and I eavesdropped on you actually answering one of them, which is Martyn’s question, but the first one will be about the overall appearance and ambience of the place [Jocelyn Solly House]: what do you think about it?
Sir Nicholas Winterton:
I think it’s a modern, attractive, welcoming centre. To me, a lot of thought has gone into the design of this particular mental health resource centre and I think that it will be well used and it will be of great benefit to the area and those who suffer from whatever form of mental illness. It’s going to be primarily adult and elderly, but you know there is huge scope here. I’ve just been in the part of the centre which deals with what I would describe as [eating disorders]. The majority of those hitherto – this is interesting – that have had this problem have been young women, but of course it is increasingly young men who, it isn’t that they starve themselves: they will go to the gym and take excessive exercise to burn off all the calories that they are actually bringing in through whatever they’re eating. So I think the range…it’s a multidisciplinary centre and obviously, therefore, virtually anything relating to mental illness can be dealt with, assessed and treated from here, but the other thing I said when I opened the centre is, I still believe there is a need for residential care. For some people suffering from mental illness, particularly schizophrenics, they need tranquillity, they need certainty, they need security and they need an environment because - I learned this from some psychiatrists that over the years I’ve met – that a peaceful environment can have…is part of the therapy that is used to treat some people with a particular form of mental illness.
Again, I know one of the questions that you’re interested in is stigma. I have to say because, perhaps, I have been very involved in and interested in this whole area, I don’t myself see, perceive or come across stigma any longer for those who suffer from mental illness. I think that the public have become much more aware that mental illness can affect every family in the country: it isn’t an isolated disease or problem and therefore there is not today the stigma that used to be attached, according to some people – not all people – to those who suffer from mental illness. And again, because many more people are dealt with in the community, it’s all part of a health service, whether you’ve got a physical disability, whether you’ve got a mental disability, it’s all part of a service and it’s much more readily accepted and understood. But bear in mind if you take particularly dementia, Jocelyn Solly House as it was, was set up to assess those with dementia and Alzheimer’s and therefore, where people before would have been…people would say ‘locked away’, they have been part of families and many more families have realised that those who previously were not seen in the public, it’s now accepted, therefore there isn’t the stigma attached. What I do say is that it’s like deafness in a way. If you’re blind, that’s a perceived disability and people are instinctively sympathetic and understanding. If you’re deaf, it isn’t a perceived handicap, and sometimes also mental illness isn’t a perceived disease. But it is a disease, and it’s a treatable disease, and it’s something that is treated under the National Health Service as any other ailment, disease, physical problem is dealt with and therefore I think while there may be a handful of people who will raise their hands if they come across someone with a mental illness, overwhelmingly the stigma that was associated with mental illness has gone.
Richard Muirhead:
Yes, as a more generalised question; do you ever get nervous before opening establishments or making a speech in parliament or in public, or is it second nature to you? Do you have any tips for public speaking?
SirNW:
‘Do you get nervous?’ The answer is not nervous but if you just have a little sort of feeling in your inside when you’re going to speak in public, even if you’ve been doing it as I have for 40 years, the answer is yes, you do; you just have that little bit of tension that, to put it bluntly, that makes you do your best. If you were totally relaxed, couldn’t care less, you wouldn’t be giving of your best: you would just take it for granted, so to feel just a little tension, a little apprehensive is a good thing and therefore I believe that what you say will come across more forcefully, more sincerely and therefore it’s a good thing. Like today, I was honoured to have been invited to open this new facility, but I have some quite critical things to say, but not critical destructive, but critical because I was reflecting what people like yourselves might have said to me, and with the likes of David Eva, the Chairman here, and Peter Cubbon, the Chief Executive here, and others who are associated with the provision of mental health services, I was able to say in front of an audience of providers and clinicians the sort of concerns that have been expressed to me. The availability for instance of special facilities in Lime Walk, for those suffering from schizophrenia and other not dissimilar mental health problems. You know, I think it’s important that there is – how do I put it? – accommodation for them in an area where they feel secure, where they feel safe, where they know and where there is an environment which is therapeutically beneficial.
So as regards the last part of your question, can I say if you want to be appreciated, if you want to be understood, say what you believe, say it with sincerity and don’t say things that you don’t believe purely to appeal to the audience. Take the opportunity to speak your mind; never be told what to say because people won’t trust you. As I said today, not everyone agreed with everything that I said and there are counter-arguments to one or two of the issues – I know that – that I raised when I spoke today, but I took the opportunity of making a serious speech, not just saying ‘this is a wonderful mental health resource centre; I congratulate all those involved;’ you know, ‘wonderful drawings and pictures all produced by those from Rosemount; and the flowers and all the flowerbeds all done locally – wonderful.’ It is wonderful and it’s great that they’ve been involved, but I took the opportunity to make some serious comments because I wanted people to realise that mine is not just a superficial interest, it is a deep-seated, long-standing interest and as I said right at the end [of the speech], I want to see the best possible facility for those suffering from whatever form it is of mental illness here in east Cheshire and Macclesfield. To have the best possible treatment and facilities, and so from my point of view: be sincere, speak your mind, be honest and don’t say things that you don’t believe.
MN:
Thank you very much.
So I didn’t get to ask my question about stigma, but it was dealt with by Sir Nicholas as part of his first answer, and that’s the important thing, even if some of us don’t agree with all he said on the matter. Any comments?
Posted by Martyn Hughes.
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