She believed that HMH would be of no benefit to her and signed a risk form and discharged herself and her baby within 24 hours. There was no FAYS notification required as staff didn't feel that baby Jen was at risk. The following week Kate presented herself to accident and emergency at the RAH after taking a non-life threatening overdose of Panadol. Her daughter Jen was placed in Foster Care. The following day Kate was transferred to HMH and reunited with her daughter. A diagnosis of major depression was made and she was commenced on anti-depressants. Kate had another short admission, she still had the attitude, she had difficulty getting along with staff, she was verbally abusive, she was fowl mouthed, she was unwilling to take advice from staff members and in her words "We were full of shit". As far as she was concerned she knew how to care for Jen and she certainly didn't require any help from the team looking after her. She often heard to say "It's boring here, there's nothing to do" despite having the opportunity to attend groups etc.
Kates care for Jen was basic but not deemed unsafe. She kept her clean and warm, fed her and made sure she was safe, but lacked the knowledge of experience to play and re-act with her etc. She understood her basic needs but that's just about where it stopped. Kate often stated that she was jealous of her baby because she seemed to get more attention than her.
The multi-disciplinary team discussed that Kate would benefit from Malvern House so a bed was arranged for her there. It wasn't necessary for FAYS to be notified of her discharge from HMH at this time. Malvern House is a safe place for women and children to stay. It is for women with children who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Malvern House is supported accommodation and key workers are allocated to the mum and these keyworkers work with the mothers to try and help them to achieve their goals.
