Why did they let my son commit suicide? ..... err Norfolk again

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Why did they let my son commit suicide?

NAOMI CANTON

21 February 2006 10:13

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/News/story.aspx?

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The mother of a man who killed himself at a Norwich psychiatric unit

today spoke for the first time about her grief as she backed calls

for a public inquiry into the high number of suicides there.

Rosemary Bibby's 40-year-old son Graham Tufts doused himself in

petrol before setting himself on fire with a lighter at the

Hellesdon Hospital.

Mrs Bibby, 64, spoke out after hearing about the death of Clifford

Leggett, who was found with shoelaces tied around his neck and

attached to the tap of a bathroom sink.

A full inquest into the death of 46-year-old Mr Leggett, of Bunwell,

will be held at a future date, but it is expected the coroner will

confirm he was the 18th patient to commit suicide since April 1999.

Mrs Bibby said she did not think the hospital was " a very happy

place " and wanted to see an inquiry into the high rate of suicides

there.

She added: " There still seem to be a lot of suicides at the hospital

so there is something wrong somewhere. You've got people in hospital

at their lowest ebb and it seems like people are not keeping an eye

on them. "

Last week, Norwich North MP Ian Gibson said a public inquiry should

be held to investigate the high death rate at the hospital.

Mrs Bibby added: " There are things that need addressing. I don't

mean to criticise the system, but perhaps there need to be

volunteers who could go in and perhaps spend some quality time with

patients. "

She said she wanted to see a group set up called the Friends of

Hellesdon Hospital to do this as the staff and doctors seemed " very

busy " .

The night before he died, in April 2002, Mr Tufts was taken to

Hellesdon Hospital by ambulance. Mrs Bibby said he tried to cut his

wrists that night and in the morning he saw the psychiatrist who

said he was not at risk.

He was supposed to be checked by staff every 15 minutes, but at

lunchtime wandered off to a filling station alone and bought a litre

of petrol before setting fire to himself.

" I think he should not have been allowed out that morning after

slitting his wrists. They should have watched him more carefully. "

The Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Trust today insisted it was

trying to reduce the number of suicides and pointed out the rate had

fallen in the past three years. Spokeswoman Nicola Brown said that

belts and potential means of ligature were only taken from those

sectioned under the Mental health Act. She added that the number of

inpatient suicides had reduced from 12 between April 1999 and March

2002 to five from April 2002 and March 2005. " To see these figures

in perspective, on average we treat 2,200 inpatients every year, "

she said. " As is the case with every inpatient suicide, we carry out

an internal investigation. "

The father of a woman who killed herself at Hellesdon Hospital by

hanging herself with her belt has also backed North Norwich MP Ian

Gibson's call for an inquiry into the hospital.

was found by a cleaner in November 2002, just three

days after she was admitted to the hospital for clinical depression.

Despite attempts to revive her she was later pronounced dead at the

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

The 23-year-old had spoken to her father Gerald only an hour before

her death.

It came just three months after Norfolk Mental Healthcare Trust said

it was tightening up procedures such as removing shoelaces and belts

from at risk patients and making curtain and shower rails

collapsible.

Mr , 64, who lives in the Golden Triangle area of Norwich said

today: " I think it's good Ian Gibson has called for an inquiry.

Something should happen. I back what Ian Gibson is saying and I

would take part in such an inquiry.

" She was supposed to be under 24-hour supervision so I can't see why

they let her hang herself. They said they watched her every two

minutes, well that's a lie because a cleaner found her hanging by

her belt.

" They should have taken her belt from her. I can't get an answer

from them as to why she was allowed to keep her belt.

" was on anti depressants but at one point they gave her the

drugs they normally give a schizophrenic and that made her worse.

" The atmosphere was terrible and when she was in there she said she

got worse. Some of the patients were dangerous and they just roamed

about. They had not got the staff to cope with the patients who were

in there. She did not get the help she needed at all. "

He said his daughter, an ex City of Norwich School student, had

never had depression until her mother Glenda died of cancer in 2000.

But she never got over her mother's death and as a result did not

concentrate on her studies as a student nurse at the University of

East Anglia and was thrown off her course.

He said she carried on working in her Saturday job in a city ladies

clothes shop but eventually ditched it in, became unemployed and got

progressively depressed.

Ü Do you have concerns about the level of care at the Hellesdon

Hospital? Call Alasdair McGregor at the Evening News on (01603)

772443 or email al.mcgregor@...