Mental health review after suicide – can anyone advise?

[polifa]

A close family member died by suicide recently. They were under the care of the local NHS mental health service, after a previous serious attempt.

I have been in contact with the service, and they are holding some kind of review/investigation into the death. I do know that a psychiatrist appointment shortly before the death was cancelled, and I don't know if it ever got rescheduled.

Has anyone been through this process, or works in the NHS and knows anything about it?

I am starting to feel some guilt that I am not 'fighting' for my family member – but also they hid everything from me, I don't know what was going on. Right now I don't feel like the death could have been prevented but I suppose I will find that out.

Is it going to be an arse-covering exercise to dissuade us from suing? I don't think we would go down that route anyway. What will I find out? Can I get a full history of my relative's problems and care?

Any advice would be so appreciated.

I’m really sorry you are going through this, OP. I would think carefully about what’s going to be helpful for you at this stage. You don’t owe your relative anything and you shouldn’t feel guilty. The fact that this review is being held doesn’t mean you have a duty to engage with it. If you felt like you needed answers, or it would help you to feel like you were doing something to improve the care provided in future, that’s different, but it doesn’t sound like you do and potentially it could be quite difficult hearing all of this when it’s not going to bring them back. If you do decide you want to access the information, you can submit a request - you can phone or email any contacts you have involved in the review and they should facilitate that for you. Or you can contact your local PALS patient liaison service (just search nearest PALS to me) or the Integrated Health Board covering that service (again, a google search should give you that). It helps to be clear on what you want - information, to make a complaint about the care received, etc. But prioritise you first. Bereavement after someone has died by suicide can be hard to navigate, if you need any support there are some good helplines out there.

Thank you so much @Babyshambles90 I've tried to google it all and it's impenetrable. I've thought about it all day, and I don't think we are seeking to blame anyone. We're not angry. That guilt came on quickly last night, and went quickly too. I really believe it was so complex, with so many contributing factors, nothing could have been done.

I actually have a lot of sympathy for mental health workers, especially after doing a lot of reading and thinking today.

That's extremely helpful re access and PALS. I think I am after information – a timeline of the mental health problems, what happened when etc. I would also like to share my thoughts on informing and including the family in a person's care.

Thank you again, you've helped.

There won't be any arse covering, everything will be looked through with a fine tooth comb. Unfortunately as hard as staff try, sometimes people succeed in completing suicide and there is nothing that would have stopped them in the long term. Look after yourself and as the previous poster suggested you could contact PALS.

I lost my DH to suicide this year. I'm in a similar situation to you - previous attempts, being sectioned, severe depression. Two people from the independent NHS health care interviewed me about his care. Their report wil be shared with the Coroner (I think it's all part of the process). He'd been sectioned and had good care but I'd had real problems trying to get any info on him from the psychiatrist- in fact I felt at the time they were actively trying to avoid me.
But I just want to put the whole thing behind me, so I'm just letting them get on with the process and not wanting too much involvement. Dreading the inquest.
Like you, I'm not angry- he was so ill I think he would have found a way to die at some point.

@nolongerhere I'm so sorry to hear that you know and understand. Thank you for replying to me.

I'm in a very similar position. My relative died by suicide a few weeks ago. We had raised concerns about them in their final months and were told everything was fine.

The inquest into their death opens this week. Last week I sent a letter to the coroner outlining our concerns and they said they would investigate all the issues raised.

The actual inquest will be in March. It's important to us to find out what was really happening in their last few months and what was done when we said we thought something was wrong. Maybe there are lessons to be learned and maybe there aren't, we only want to be sure that everything is carefully looked into.

@User00553355 Hey there. I'm so sorry to hear you're in the same position. I think you've done the right thing writing to the coroner. Like you, I feel it's very important for me to find out what was going on, what was being said and done.

It could be worth calling their mental health team (if they had one) as they may be able to hold a meeting with you. I hope your contact at the coroner's office is helpful. Ours is very good, he is kind and always ready to explain things (eg what information is being gathered, who from).

You're absolutely right to expect everything to be looked into. I really hope you get what you need.

@polifa, I was going to try PM-ing you as everything's too identifying to put on here but it doesn't seem to like me typing more than one letter.

Our relative had definite mental health issues (had been sectioned) but the team that was looking after them was not a mental health team and we're not convinced they understood what was going on. We don't want to spend any more time talking to them as they are part of our concerns.

The coroner's office has been great.

I'm so sorry you're going through this too.

@User00553355 really pleased to hear your coroner's office is good too. You're welcome to PM (if you can make it work)