Experiencing Stigma and Discrimination in Health and Social Care

• Dismissed by professional that says there is nothing wrong (without any exploration of the issue).
• Being compared to other patients.
• Being treated as a diagnosis, rather than a person.
• Feeling not being listened to.
• Having their physical health concerns ignored and being told their just linked to their mental health problem e.g. someones migraine being dismissed as just stress, and the causes not being properly looked at.
• Assumptions being made due to someone's appearance (You can't be depressed because your hair is clean etc).
• Prescribing medication rather than exploring the issue and offering alternative treatment.
• People being told they are wasting time and people who are 'actually ill' need to be treated.
• Being dismissed as attention seeking.
• Being judged by administrative staff, or not being taken seriously.

If you find that you are experiencing stigma or discrimination here are some tips:

• Speak to another GP in the practice.
• Ask to be referred to a different professional such as a Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN).
• Challenge them.
• Speak to an advocate. You can find your local advocate on the Independent Advocacy Alliance website here .
• Ask a friend or family member to attend an appointment with you.
• Find out about your rights, how to make a complaint about discriminatory practice and get support at the NHS inform website here.
• You can make a complaint to your local health board about your experiences here.
• If your complaint is not accepted by the NHS, then you can contact the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. 

Knowing your rights can be really helpful when trying to challenge stigma and discrimination. Rights for Life is a declaration of rights created by thousands of people with experience of mental health conditions in Scotland, alongside See Me, the Scottish Recovery Network and VOX.

The Declaration is for people affected by mental health issues, who can use it to help claim their rights. The people and organisations responsible for respecting, protecting and fulfilling rights in Scotland can use the Declaration to inform their policy, practices and responses to people asserting their rights.

Download Rights for Life

You can highlight and challenge stigma through sharing stories on your experiences of health care with Care Opinion. They can pass them on to the people who can make a difference, publish them on their website, and ours, and you can also see other people's stories, who may have had similar experiences to you.

You can also share positive feedback when you feel that a service has supported you well so that others can learn. 

When they publish your story on the site, they don't say who you are, and we never share your personal details with anyone else.

Over 500 organisations have signed up to use Care Opinion to listen to what patients, service users and carers are saying so that they can make improvements to service access and provision. They work with health and care providers, commissioners, health boards, regulators, professional bodies, educators, researchers and patient groups.

To give you an idea of the types of stories people share, we are working with Care Opinion, to highlight stories on mental health stigma and discrimination in health care. You can read the ten most recent stories here. You can share your story with them below.

 

Share Your Story