MENTAL health patients have staged a protest outside a hospital over psychiatric care.

The Speak Out Against Psychiatry Collective demonstrated outside the gates of the Bethlem Royal Hospital in Beckenham on Friday (July 20).

Campaigners believe psychiatric care is the wrong way to treat mental health issues and that medical professionals prescribe too many drugs.

Susan Bevis, from Enfield, has complained to her MP Nick de Bois, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the health ombudsman about the care her daughter received at the hospital.

Ms Bevis claims she has now been banned from Bethlem although her daughter has been moved to another hospital.

Martin Camden, 55, from Croydon, said he was angry about the treatment he received at the hospital when he was recently sectioned there after voluntarily admitting himself to the hospital.

Angela McManus, 55, from Westminster, was also at the demo after having a "nightmare" experience at another hospital.

A spokesman from the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, which runs Bethlem, said: "If anyone has specific concerns, we will look into them. We take complaints very seriously.

"We prescribe a range of treatments rather than just drugs."

A CQC spokesman said there had been an inspection last week at Bethlem, following an inspection in September which called for improvements in staffing and "standards of caring for people safely and protecting them from harm".

A report on the latest inspection is due to be published later this year.