Hundreds from Grenfell Tower area referred to mental health services

Residents of the Grenfell Tower area have been referred to mental health services
Alamy Stock Photo
Eleanor Rose10 August 2017

Hundreds of adults and children from the Grenfell Tower neighbourhood have been referred for specialist mental health assessments in the aftermath of the disaster, new figures show.

In a public outreach exercise that revealed the distress suffered by those closest to the tragedy, health professionals visited thousands of people from the area to determine if they needed help from the NHS.

The Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust said staff had knocked on 2,200 doors in the west London neighbourhood and that 600 people, including 100 children, had been referred to the mental health services.

The referrals also came from GP appointments, calls to a hotline, and attendance at a local community centre, and it is understood that survivors who escaped the tower as well as bereaved families are among them.

Police believe about 80 people died when fire tore through the housing block in the early hours of June 14, while hundreds more were displaced from their homes.

Horrific night: Firefighters fought for hours to bring the fire under control 
Jeremy Selwyn

As well as the horror of the night itself, many survivors have faced stressful situations such as lengthy waits to locate the bodies of deceased relatives and being unable to return to their homes.

Other potential stress factors include concerns undocumented immigrants could lose access to healthcare, while other residents are suffering legal and financial worries.

Residents are also preparing themselves for the protracted battle for accountability in the wake of the disaster.

At a public meeting on Wednesday, survivors claimed that seeing the blackened shell of the building was causing them distress, and repeated their calls for it to be covered.

Plans are in place for a protective wrapping to be installed around mid-August.

Borough fire commander Spencer Sutcliffe told the meeting at Notting Hill Methodist Church that his crews had been "really deeply affected and saddened" by the disaster.

Two months on from the fire, residents used the event to tell key figures in the response team that many of their questions remained unanswered, condemning the rebuilding efforts as "terrible".

The leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, Elizabeth Campbell, faced sustained criticism during the session and was heckled as she spoke.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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