Mother slams health trust after son left in a coma

York Hospital (Image: Supplied)

A mother has said her son nearly died in an incident at York Hospital because mental health professionals "didn’t listen to her".

If they had, she said “he wouldn’t be in a coma”.

Psychiatric services in York are run by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Trust which has declined to comment on grounds of patient confidentiality.

The mother, who asked not to be named and is from Dringhouses, said police searched for her son at the weekend because they were concerned for his welfare and when they found him, they took him to York Hospital.

They and mental health professionals were aware that he was seriously mentally ill.

She said after he arrived at the hospital her son tried to kill himself for the third time that day.

He ended the day in intensive care in an induced coma.

The mother said she had been trying for a long time to persuade the mental health team that her son was not as well as he maintained he was.

“He was just in a spiral after he came out (from being sectioned in a mental health unit),” she said.

A police van in York. (Image: North Yorkshire Police)

“I told them this wasn’t right. But I was wasting my breath.

“They need to listen to parents. I know my own son. I told them he’s not better.”

She said police told her they couldn’t do anything until someone was harmed.

The mother said by Saturday evening she had been pleading with her son’s mental health team for more than 24 hours to give him an emergency assessment so that he could be sectioned again under the Mental Health Act.

But she was told that an assessment couldn’t be done until Monday.

“From Friday morning I could see all that would happen. I could see the pattern developing,” she said.

She also said that at the time of the incident, although initially police were in the same room as her son at the hospital, after a change of personnel they were not in the ward with him.

The concerned mum believes that had they remained in the room with her son they could have prevented the incident.

Of both the mental health professionals and the police, she said: “I would like them to do their job properly.

“If they did their job properly and listened to me and other parents, things wouldn’t happen like this.”

She said she had not received support from York Hospital.

A spokesperson for the TEWV trust said: “We can’t comment on a person’s care or disclose personal information due to patient confidentiality.”

North Yorkshire Police has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the incident and in a statement said: “A full investigation is underway to establish the circumstances prior to the incident.”

A spokesman for York Hospital said: “Our thoughts are with the individual and those close to him, and we are supporting colleagues affected by the incident.

“North Yorkshire Police is investigating the circumstances of the incident, and we are supporting them with their enquiries.”

They referred all further enquiries to North Yorkshire Police.

The son is recovering in hospital and is now out of the coma.

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