'Malicious' patient cause neighbours stress

By Jes Salter

IGNORED complaints about a violent and noisy mental health patient living in council accommodation in St Mary’s has caused so much stress that one resident has signed off sick from work.

The resident, who has lived in St Mary’s for nearly five years, did not want to be identified but said he had complained to the mental health unit and police several times. The mental health patient has lived in the flat below him for four years, minus a spell in hospital.

He said: “This man is malicious in the way he keeps us all up at night. Some mental health patients I do have sympathy with, but I can’t with him. He has threatened to attack the woman next door.”

“I’ve told the police and the mental health people, but they say there’s nothing they can do.”

The patient was allegedly taken away for treatment in June, but released back into his former house after a few months.

A spokesperson from Canonbury Mental Health Team said: “There are many negative stereotypes that people living with a mental illness have to overcome and once their neighbours know that they have a problem, they can often become unsupportive.”

Emily Fieran Reed, St Mary’s ward councillor and a non-executive member of the Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust, said: “The mental healthcare in Islington is one of the best in the country. We spend more than anyone else.”

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