Samantha Young

“Assessment of the risk that a patient poses to themselves or others is clearly a cornerstone of the work of an NHS Trust dealing with mental health. At the material time there was a lack of any training as to compilation of risk assessments. I was informed by a senior manager of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust that with the translation of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust into the new Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust that issue of training is being addressed. However it emerged at the inquest that there do not appear to be any firm plans to train agency staff. Agency staff form a significant percentage of frontline staff.”

“Wider family and friends of the deceased perspective were not contacted.. A patient's family and friends are clearly an invaluable resource for learning more about a patient's mental health and specifically risk to life, the support available to the patient and the potential for synergistic support with the NHS Trust. This PFD is not the first time that the issue has been raised with Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust: in 2023 the Senior Coroner for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton issued a PFD on similar grounds arising out of the inquest into the death of [name redacted]. The Senior Coroner observed in the PFD that "I remain concerned (as it is a matter I have raised on many occasions at inquest and again as a result of the experiences of the family in this case), that communication with the families of patients with mental health difficulties is still not being effectively achieved. Nor are such families being sufficiently, effectively and meaningfully listened to or understood when they voice concerns, based on their experience of the patient outside of a treatment or assessment environment. Consequently, I am concerned that such matters are not being reflected sufficiently or frequently enough in the onward treatment of those patients or in the clinical curiosity afforded to their conditions." Moreover, in 2021 a report commissioned by NHS England into Southern Health Foundation Trust similarly reported on shortfall in communication with families.”