STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Strength in Numbers dedicated to my late mother Kay

26/09/2015 • 2:16 pm 0

‘My son shouldn’t have died!’ Mother hits out at mental health trust over suicide risks

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http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/independant-inquiry-into-death-of-matthew-leahy-20-yrs.html

 

A mental health trust where two men were found hanged this year had failed to act adequately on recommendations going back a decade on how to minimise suicide risks to patients.

Seven in-patients have now died by hanging at the North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust since 2004, including the two in the first half of this year. The Bureau, which is investigating quality of provision in the care sector, has discovered that internal recommendations made after the first of these deaths were not adopted.

In the years since then, six more people have died and at least three other separate warnings and recommendations were issued, both from the healthcare regulator and internally. But when the Care Quality Commission regulator, carried out an unannounced inspection following a death in February this year, it found the risks had still not been fully addressed.

The recommendations focused on the issue of ligature points, such as on doors, windows and wardrobes. Most in-patient suicides on psychiatric wards occur as a result of hanging from these points.

Click on the link to read more

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2015/09/25/my-son-shouldnt-have-died-mother-hits-out-at-mental-health-trust-over-suicide-risks/?

Melanie-Leahy

Melanie Leahy and son Matthew in 2010, two years before his death

Filed under: Mental Health, NHS, ,

21/02/2015 • 12:02 pm 0

Patient found hanging came after four similar deaths at Sunderland hospital

Paige Bell’s death at Cherry Knowle psychiatric unit in Sunderland comes after four previous deaths in similar circumstances in the same NHS trust. Paige, 20, died from oxygen starvation to the brain eight days after she was found hanging in her room on August 6, the inquest heard. She had been taken to the hospital by police after she was pulled from the wrong side of the railings of the Wearmouth Bridge in the early hours that day. Concerns had been raised over observations levels at Cherry Knowle as Paige had self-harmed twice the day she died, coinciding with check-ups from staff

Click on the link to read more

http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/health/patient-found-hanging-came-after-four-similar-deaths-at-sunderland-hospital-1-7118458

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Filed under: Hospital, Mental Health, NHS, ,

28/01/2015 • 9:41 am 0

Patient’s shocking death alone in a public toilet made me question end-of-life care – by Andrew Buckley – A doctor working in a NHS hospital

“Cardiac arrest, public toilets” proclaimed the tinny speaker in the intensive care pager. Clutching the grab bag and defibrillator I headed toward the scene, considering what we were likely to find. There’s an unwritten rule of cardiac arrest: if it’s in a public place, it’s always a syncopal episode, a faint.

A number of responders had arrived before me at the cramped and panicked toilet area and started the well-trodden resuscitation path, delivering CPR to an elderly man we’ll call John. John had not fainted. Evidence of rigor mortis, the stiffening that sets in when the muscles stop receiving oxygen, was already manifest, and his face showed the calm, waxen permanence of death we hospital doctors become so familiar with.

The defibrillator, a machine that allows for rapid assessment of the heart, confirmed the complete absence of electrical activity. A search through his personal effects while chest compressions were ongoing revealed an elegantly handwritten note, written without fear or prejudice, with admirable perspicacity and with a strong undertone of defiance.

Please click on the link to read more

http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/views-from-the-nhs-frontline/2015/jan/28/dignity-death-assisted-suicide-end-life-care?CMP=share_btn_fb

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The letter we found in his pocket while trying to save his life began: “Dear the doctors and nurses of [our hospital]” and went on to neatly summarise a predicament affecting so many in society. Photograph: Alamy

Filed under: Hospital, Uncategorized, , ,

20/01/2015 • 8:05 am 1

Woman who took an overdose ’was ignored by NHS’

Joanna Lynch had begged for help from Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust’s out-of-hours mental health helpline, Hospital at Home, in the weeks leading up to her death from an overdose, an inquest heard. But her desperate pleas to be admitted to hospital and threats to take her own life were not acted upon by staff. On July 4, 2014, after becoming concerned because they had not heard from her since the previous day, her parents called police who managed to get into her flat and found Miss Lynch dead. The 30-year-old had taken an overdose of prescription medication.

At the inquest at Portsmouth Guildhall Dr Ian McCafferty, a locum consultant psychiatrist from the trust, read out details of two calls made to Hospital at Home in the hours before her death in which Miss Lynch told a care worker ‘she couldn’t take it any more’ and she ‘might’ take an overdose. He said the notes read that the call was ended by the care worker who told her she should prepare for bed.

Click on the link to read more

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/health/local-health/woman-who-took-an-overdose-was-ignored-by-nhs-1-6530817

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Filed under: Uncategorized, ,

27/08/2014 • 8:51 am 0

Self-harm by mental health patients in NHS has risen by 56%, figures show

Growing numbers of people being treated in mental health units are harming themselves and trying to take their own lives, new NHS figures suggest.
The number of such incidents at 29 of England’s 52 NHS mental health trusts rose from 14,815 in 2010 to 23,053 last year, an increase of 56% over four years.
The average number per trust rose from 511 to 795 last year over the same period.
Labour, which obtained the figures under freedom of information laws, linked the increase to cuts in the number of doctors and nurses working in mental health units and their budgets.
“Mental health services have been squeezed year on year, the number of specialist doctors and nurses has dropped and there aren’t enough beds to meet demand. The pressure this is putting on mental health wards is intolerable”, said Luciana Berger, the shadow public health minister, who obtained the figures.
“It is unacceptable that people in touch with mental health services may not be getting the support they need. They are some of the most vulnerable patients in our NHS”, she added. That some mental health wards were running way above their recommended maximum capacity of 85%, sometimes reaching as much as 138%, was also a factor explaining the rise, Berger added.

Please click on the link to read more
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/27/self-harm-suicide-mental-health-patients-nhs-rises-56-per-cent

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Filed under: Mental Health, Uncategorized, , , , ,

19/08/2014 • 10:04 am 0

Woman in abortion case tells of suicide attempt

The young woman who was refused an abortion and later had her pregnancy delivered by Caesarean section, has spoken of her attempt to take her own life when she was 16 weeks pregnant.
She says she was a victim of rape before she came to Ireland earlier this year and she found out she was pregnant during a medical check soon after. In an interview with The Irish Times she says she immediately expressed her desire to die rather than bear her rapist’s child, when she was eight weeks and four days pregnant.
She was admitted to hospital last month expressing suicidal ideation at 24 weeks pregnant. She was initially told she could not have an abortion as the pregnancy was too far progressed.

Click on the link to read more
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/woman-in-abortion-case-tells-of-suicide-attempt-1.1901256

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Filed under: Uncategorized, , ,

13/08/2014 • 7:30 pm 0

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13/08/2014 • 8:53 am 0

‘Don’t be sad I’m gone, be happy I’m not in pain’: Haunting blog of musician, 21, posted days after he was found dead

The haunting blog of a musician – detailing his battle with depression and telling his loved ones ‘not to be sad I’m gone’- has appeared online days after he died.
It is believed Brett Robertshaw timed the post for after his death – with the line: ‘If this post is live I’m probably not here any more.’
The talented musician was found in his bedroom in Blackpool, Lancashire, by his aunt on July 5 – seven days before the blog appeared.

Please click on the link to read more
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2722658/Dont-sad-Im-gone-happy-Im-not-pain-Haunting-blog-musician-21-posted-days-dead.html

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