Seventeen-year-old Christie Harnett died by suicide while a patient at a mental health unit in Middlesbrough run by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV). Laura Kenny and others said they had warned staff and sent letters because they believed someone would die and nobody listened. Within months, three young women died by suicide while under TEWV care. Former patients and families described a lack of compassion and an absence of meaningful treatment or therapy, and they fear mistakes may still be occurring. Families pushed for a public inquiry, but delays have left them uncertain about who will lead it, when it will start, and where it will be held.
"“We'd been warning everyone,” says Laura. “We wrote letters to everyone we could think of saying one of us is going to die.” In fact, 17-year-old Christie was one of three young women who, within a few months of each other, took their own lives while patients in hospitals run by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) - which covers the whole of North Yorkshire, County Durham and Teesside."
"In recent weeks we have spoken to more than a dozen former patients, admitted as young people or as adults, who say they experienced failures in the standard of care at TEWV. We have also met the families of some of those who died away from hospital, but still under the trust's care. Nathan Evison was 19 when he killed himself in 2019 and Laurent McNamara died last year. All have similar stories - describing a lack of compassion among staff and an absence of any meaningful treatment or therapy."
"Despite having been promised answers by the end of February, they say a meeting on 31 March with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) left them no nearer to knowing who might lead the investigation, when it might start and where it might be held. “While our clients appreciate these things take time, they are worried about the continued care being offered by a trust under scrutiny and how, in three months, there appears to be no firm developments,” Alistair Smith, from Ison Harrison Solicitors told the BBC."
Read at www.bbc.com
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