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Click here to read the Original article (pg 4) on South London Press

If Philip K Dick, Isaac Asimov, or George Orwell saw the world now, a world born from the pages of their electric futures that they so vividly predicted, they might feel slightly nauseous. Great Briton has become an island of dystopian distrust and double edged support networks, one hand feeding whilst the other takes away. Science fiction doesn’t get much richer than this and our country has been crafted into the perfect backdrop for the oncoming enactment of Orwell’s 1984. We’ve been watching it coming for quite some time now, and much like the novels prole’s we have done little to change the course of the action.

Patients seeking support with metal distress at South London and Mausley NHS trust are being shackled with a tracking devise to ease the minds of the outside world who feel threatened by the patient’s emersion back into society. This is the same treatment given to criminals.

The devices are patronizingly called Buddi and cost quite a considerable £299 per tag. The tracking device Buddi won the technology & Innovation CBI / Real Business Growing Business Awards. They claim on their website to adhere to equal opportunities and fair dealing policies. It’s just a shame that this policy doesn’t extend to the application of their business practices. The tracker, noted for it‘s ability to pinpoint the location your lost dog, is now used to distract and cover up ineffective methods of treatment and care.

Added to the initial expense of an individual Buddi there will be the added cost of maintenance and repair, followed by the supervision and running of the technology to monitor these “patients with severe mental health problems”. I’m no mathematician but any one can deduce that this adds up to a huge cost spent per person on the British obsession of surveillance. The one stop cure-all. This money could easily be put to far better use. As it stands this money does nothing to support the person, the equal citizen, experiencing mental distress. Far worse, it actually achieves the exact opposite, it manages to condemn and stigmatize people, it increases irrational fear and paranoia within communities and it extinguishes any hope that the branded citizen has of maintaining and achieving a stronger sense of well-being and self-confidence. This demoralization and enforced declassification does not fulfill the positive treatment and support needed by the individual.

The Buddi tags are fitted to the patient towards the end of rehabilitation. Surely this is a classic example of backwards logic, destroying any benefits of positive treatment the patient may have received. These expensive devises bring fear into our communities and highlight the blatant fact that the national health service are poorly equipped to provide the care and support needed by those experiencing mental distress. The services provided and financed via the NHS trust are generally insufficient and malnourished.

There are other ways to bring around mental wellbeing. Focusing and developing a person’s creativity is a fail-safe. I volunteer for CoolTan Arts, a charity based in Southwark, London. The team at CoolTan recognises the positive influence art has upon our mental well-being, they use this knowledge to deliver successful programmes which offer support and outreach within a trusting, friendly and creative environment.

Ankle bracelets, trackers, are a short term crowd pleaser. They succeed only in showing us that while Big Brother is watching; he is doing very little, however benevolently, with its usual dab handed and lazy approach. Yet again the damage caused by such flippancy and lack of genuine care will most likely be overlooked as our government will have appealed to the security and safety nebula of our nation.

Professor Tom Fahy says, “it should reassure residents that our services place an equal emphasis on safety as well as getting our patients better”. I fail to understand how increasing negative stigma helps any form of personal recovery.

This awful scenario is being trailed at Maudsley NHS Trust in Denmark Hill, South London. We can stop this from going any further by making our voices heard and by promoting an alternative. Get in touch with your local MP and express your concern.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of CoolTan Arts but are the personal views of the author Martin Walsh (volunteer at CoolTan Arts).

More information about CoolTan Arts is available on W: http://www.cooltanarts.org.uk,

E: info@cooltanarts.org.uk , T: 020 77012696.

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