Seek advice prior to coroner inquest into son's suicide

[jiver]

Hello

I am seeking help and support in my attempts to gain access to the health and employment records of my late son, who took his own life in May aged 44 and whose death is now the subject of a coroners inquest to be held in April 2027.

His circumstances are as follows.

He has required treatment for severe psychosis since 2001. After a relatively quiet period he had his treatment changed in 2021 and began to worsen. In his last 2 years he was actually employed full time in the NHS as a "ward entertainments manager" and previously as a volunteers peer support worker by the health authority that was also responsible for his healthcare, where he had previously been detained for ongoing treatment for a psychosis.

Employment of previous service users is common in the mental health service, the idea being that a previous user can be a role model for new and frightened patients, but I believe it was not thought out and whether it actually improved outcomes generally has not been assessed.

In my son's case it was a disaster. He was becoming more ill at the time he was employed but this was never acted on until he became embarrassingly disturbed and eventually he had to be suspended. Within a week or two he had killed himself and the ward where he was employed had to deal with the repercussions and somehow reassure the patients that he was working with, who no doubt would be traumatised to hear of his death.

To enable me to ask pertinent questions at the inquiry I applied to get his employment and his health records from the trust and from his GP beforehand but I was refused point blank on the grounds that Peter, who was obviously ill at the time, had told these agencies not to divulge any personal information to his parents, even though we were supporting him and even attending meetings with his care team, from his first presentation in 2001 right up until mid 2024.

I am negotiating with the coroner's assistant to be able to see whatever records the coroner asks for but much time has passed and I am concerned I won't get enough information.

I am posting here to ask if anyone can point me to a support group for relatives of people that had inadequate mental health care and took their own lives, not necessarily in taking action against the authorities, but in getting general advice about inquiries, information and records released to them.

Any help or suggestions welcome

I don't have any experience or advice op but just wanted to say I'm so sorry sorry for your loss and what you have been through.

I am sorry for your loss. You should be able to get some advice here https://inquest.org.uk/

I wonder if there’s anyone the corners office can recommend to give you guidance what you can and can’t get access to
this really is a job for experts advice given the legalities round it

You want to access records to ask pertinent questions. What are you looking for, what is the objective of gaining access to this information and what are you hoping to acheive?

I'm pretty sure that Inquest would be the best organisation to approach, They were very helpful for us. It may be that the best thing would be for you to hire a solicitor to ensure that the questions you want answered are raised at the inquest.

No advice but so sorry for the loss of your son.

Useful link thank you

Looking for quite specific things really, why my advice was ignored, was my son employed in an unsuitable role just to tick a box? why was advice from professional staff ignored, but also what were his last moments? The police still have his phones and won't tell us when they will be released.

I am so sorry for the loss of your son. The inquest must be an added layer of grief and stress. You are right that "peer support/lived experience is highly regarded in MH services. I like you have some concerns; I think there is little meaningful thought given to re traumatisation of vulnerable people, and huge elephants in the room for staff around daring to vocalise concerns when a situation may not be going well, for a variety of complex reasons. I hope you get the information you are looking for and are ultimately able to get some peace from the process

So sorry for your loss.

You may well find that when his phones are released by police you may not be able to get into them anyway, apple especially are very strict in that regard and see it as a breach of privacy even after death.

Amparo are great with regards to support for families who have been bereaved by suicide. They will guide you through the inquest, accompany you to the inquest if needs be amongst a multitude of other things

If you are your son’s NOK you should be granted IP status for the inquest, meaning you will receive a bundle beforehand of any relevant information, medical information, disclosures, statements etc.

Unfortunately the inquest is only for the ‘who, what, when, where, how’ and will not address the ‘why’.

You can also submit these questions to the coroner via the coroners office and they will be asked so long as the coroner sees it as appropriate and relevant

One of the clearest ways they helped us was by directing us to a solicitor who was active in this aspect of law. Once you have a solicitor on the case they will be able to ensure that the process takes account of the questions you have. (It may be expensive, though. We got legal aid because of the circumstances of my son's death.)

I don't know whether the inquest will be able to pursue things in a way that gives you any peace of mind. Especially in respect of your son's last moments. I had this idea that attending the inquest would help see me and understand my son in his last moments but it didn't do that at all. Not even a little bit. I thought the process would erode the numbness, confusion and abstraction, but it didn't. Not even a little bit

If there is some evidence of negligence or other failing on the part of his care team, or on the part of the separate processes for hiring 'lived experience' employees, then these will be looked at of course. In our case the inquest was preceded by a 'serious incident' investigation on the part of the Trust, which fed into the process.

Thank you, I was wondering if I would need legal aid. How does one apply for it? I found the government page but it seems to be for solicitors, I just need to know if I am eligible before going to any further trouble. I mean, I am not even sure what aspect of the law applies to someone simply trying to get information released.

Update
I've found the relevant gov website to advise me about legal aid

I’ve been through something similar, I found the Coroner and their staff to be very helpful and supportive.

Also , something I didn’t do and wish I had was to take a day of not searching for answers etc and theoretically take a day off . Easier said than done but your mental health is important . Take care .

Oh I'm having my breaks! Have to, usual pattern is submit a question or request online, then wait a week for an answer, meantime you can either twiddle your thumbs or find something more fun to do. The first month, organising the funeral, was awful. After that dealing with immediate effects, personal items etc, but it has been more sporadic since then. But now the inquest is drawing near, April, with little achieved so far, my anxiety is building up. This week have some important questions and decisions to make, might feel better after that.