Latest: April 2005 Archives

Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland

Deputy Health Minister Rhona Brankin today announced the part time appointments of 137 general panel members and a further 17 medical panel members for the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland. This takes the total number of medical panel members to 73.

The appointments will be from October 1, 2005, until September 30, 2010.

The daily fee will be £380.

The Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland is a Non Departmental Public Body established by the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, sponsored by the Scottish Executive Health Department.

The President of the Tribunal will play a key part in the initial set-up and ongoing directing of the Tribunal's hearings system.

The establishment of the Tribunal will mark a fundamental change in the way decisions are made about the long-term compulsory care and treatment of people in Scotland who suffer from mental disorders. Tribunal panels will consider both the compulsory powers sought and the plan of care proposed for the individual.

This Ministerial appointment followed the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland (OCPAS) Code of Practice, as a means of best practice.

All appointments are made on merit and political activity played no part in the selection process.

scotland.gov.uk 24 April

Widow on trial for manslaughter

The widow of a man who took a fatal drugs overdose has gone on trial charged with his manslaughter.
Paul Anderson, 43, of Galphay, North Yorkshire, suffered chronic fatigue syndrome and was in constant pain, Leeds Crown Court has been told.

He took an overdose of morphine on 17 July 2003 and died the next morning.

Prosecutors told the court that he would have survived if his widow, Jill Anderson, 49, who denies manslaughter, had phoned 999 that evening.

David Perry, prosecuting, said instead of making a telephone call she did nothing but watched her husband fall into a deep sleep and possible unconsciousness.

Mrs Anderson did not call for medical help until 1100 BST the following day.

"If she had made a telephone call and if medical assistance had arrived then Paul Anderson would not have died," Mr Perry said.

The court heard Mr Anderson, who also had a history of hypochondria, was virtually bed-ridden and relied on his wife for help with daily tasks such as meals and going to the toilet.

He had "abnormal chronic anxiety" about his health and had tried to commit suicide on two previous occasions.

He fell ill on 21 March 1995, two days before his wedding, with severe flu-like symptoms, and remained ill until the day he died, Mr Perry said.

His family had tried to persuade him to undergo psychiatric tests but the Andersons believed his condition was physical rather than mental.

"Any person who intends to commit suicide in a moment of bleakness is deserving of our pity but also of our protection as provided by our law," he said.

He added Mrs Anderson had admitted in police interviews that, with the benefit of hindsight, she should have called an ambulance and regretted she had not done so.

On 17 July Mrs Anderson had a feeling her husband "would do something silly", the jury heard.

She left the house to go shopping but when she returned Mr Anderson told her "I'm really sorry. I've taken too much."

There was a suicide note in the bedroom saying: "I'm sorry, I love you. I can't take any more pain. Your darling bear, Paul."

The court heard he eventually stopped breathing at 0900 BST.

Mr Perry said no evidence of his illness was found at a post-mortem examination.

The case has been adjourned until Thursday.

bbc.co.uk 20 April

Care wife in second suicide bid

A 65-year-old woman who survived a suicide pact with her husband has again tried ending her life.
Wendy Ainscow travelled from her home in Birmingham to Tenerife, where she and her husband took pain-killers before entering the sea last November.

Mrs Ainscow, originally from Prenton, Merseyside, was found on Tuesday close to where she first attempted suicide.

She claims her daughter, Lisa, has Asperger's Syndrome and went on huge spending sprees at their expense.

It is believed Mrs Ainscow left a suicide note at her flat in Birmingham.

UK and Spanish police launched a search and she was discovered on Tuesday afternoon.

She is reported to be under observation in hospital with unspecified injuries.

Her solicitor, David Kirwan, said: "This is an enormous cry for help. She has retraced the exact steps that she took with Bill."

Mrs Ainscow survived the first attempt last year, but Bill Ainscow, 75, was dead by the time the couple were picked up by a fishing boat.

Lisa Ainscow denies having Asperger's Syndrome or being mentally ill.

Through her solicitor, Richard Nicholas, she said: "I was very worried about my mother and I'm absolutely relieved that she has been found."

Mr Nicholas said Mrs Ainscow was harming her daughter by creating a "media circus".

He said: "Lisa is not mentally ill, but she is a vulnerable adult. She is the unfortunate victim of a campaign of media manipulation by her mother.

"She has been under a great deal of stress, and that stress has been made worse by the media circus created by her mother, and others.

"Lisa still loves her mother very much and was devastated when she thought she may have killed herself."

Marjorie Wallace, Chief Executive of the mental health charity Sane told the BBC they had recently received a letter from Mrs Ainscow.

"She said that she could no longer take the loneliness of caring for her daughter Lisa and rebuilding her life, " she said.

"Wendy has been grateful for all the help Sane has given, but she needed and needs more than our helpline - sympathetic mental help care and treatment for both herself and her daughter."

bbc.co.uk 20 April

Royal College of Psychiatrists: Summary of recommendations made by the Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill

The Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill reported on 23rd March 2005, concluding that the legislation was “fundamentally flawed” and badly written. They made 107 conclusions and recommendations for improving the legislation, which are summarised below. Over 90 of these are in line with College and Mental Health Alliance recommendations.

Download file pdf file

JD (FC) (Appellant) v. East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust and others (Respondents) and two other actions (FC) 21 April

The question in this appeal is whether the parent of a minor child falsely and negligently said to have abused or harmed the child may recover common law damages for negligence against a doctor or social worker who, discharging professional functions, has made the false and negligent statement, if the suffering of psychiatric injury by the parent was a foreseeable result of making it and such injury has in fact been suffered by the parent.

Full Transcript pdf file

NIMHE: Healthy Body Healthy Mind

Promoting Healthy Living for people who experience mental health problems.

A guide for people working in inpatient services pdf file

A guide for people working in community mental health services pdf file

A guide for people with mental health problems pdf file

14 April

More cash for mental health urged

The family of a man who was killed by a paranoid schizophrenic is taking a petition to Downing Street calling for more cash for mental health care.

Denis Finnegan, 50, from Thorne, South Yorkshire, was stabbed to death in a south-west London park last year.

His killer, John Barrett, had been given leave from a hospital the day before the killing in September 2004.

A 5,000-signature petition calling for more government money is to be handed in on Wednesday.

Inquiry started

John Finnegan, the victim's brother, said: "The hospitals are run by doctors - not business people - and I think they need some help to spend the money in the right places.

"Then, eventually things will turn around a bit."

Despite a long history of mental illness and violence, Barrett had been given "ground leave" from Springfield Hospital in Tooting, south London the day before he killed Mr Finnegan.

He was jailed for life in March after pleading guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

An independent inquiry is under way into the circumstances surrounding the case.

bbc.co.uk 19 April

PROTESTORS WELCOME HOLD UP FOR MENTAL HEALTH UNIT

CAMPAIGNERS angry over the opening of a mental health unit in Mexborough have welcomed the latest development in a wrangle over planning consent for the facility.

Private firm Cambian Healthcare Ltd has been licensed by the Healthcare Commission to treat 23 male patients in one of two units in former nursing homes in Manvers Road.
The company was originally told that planning permission was not needed for the facility based on the proposed use of the site for "residential care" with "active care and therapy in daily living skills".
However Doncaster Council officials later advised bosses not to proceed further with the unit after learning that a leaflet and brochure published by bosses describes it as a hospital. And this week the council revealed it now believed planning permission was required.
A 3,500 name signature petition and 123 letters were sent to Doncaster Council objecting to the scheme and campaigners have been staging daily protests outside the premises.
Spokesman Jill Arkley said: "We're hoping that this will mean the people of Mexborough will finally get the chance to have our say, which is what should have happened in the first place."
The council's development and planning director Andy Gutherson said: "The council has advised Cambian Healthcare that, based on the information currently available and in the council's opinion, the intended use of the above site does not constitute a residential home or a nursing home and as such planning permission is required for the removal/amendment to the condition of the previous permission.
"Discussions will continue between the council and Cambian Healthcare to attempt to resolve the issues
surrounding this matter."
Cambian's chief executive Saleem Asaria said he had taken extensive legal advice and was confident planning issues would be swiftly resolved.
He commented "I am categorically sure we have planning permission for what we're doing and what we're looking to do."
The company plans to admit patients at a rate of one a week and the first arrived at the facility this week.

doncastertoday.co.uk 21 April

Escaped mental patient returns

A PATIENT escaped a mental health hospital and was at large for 11 days before returning.

Anthony Williams, 32, was being escorted by a staff member in the grounds of Springfield Hospital, Tooting, on April 4 when he got away.

He was not thought to be dangerous but has mental health problems and police believe he stayed in the Tooting area.

The incident is the latest in a series of blows at the hospital, part of the South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

Williams's escape came on the same evening as a 53-year-old man believed to be a Springfield patient was found on fire just streets away from the hospital. He was being treated at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital as we went to press.

The trust also faces a crown court appearance after a staff member died while looking after a patient known for violence.

It had pleaded guilty to a breach of health and safety laws after Eshan Chattun, a healthcare assistant, died in 2003.

Sentencing is due at the Old Bailey on May 5.

Nigel Fisher, chief executive of South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust, said: "On behalf of the trust once again I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to the Chattun family. The trust has worked fully with the Health and Safety Executive to implement changes to minimise the risk of such a tragedy occurring again, for example by introducing a new, state-of-the-art alarm system."

Another inquiry was ordered after a patient killed a cyclist within a day of his release last year.

John Barrett, 42, stabbed Denis Finnegan to death in Richmond Park after being released from Springfield Hospital.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Calls for action from the victim's family saw heath secretary John Reid order an inquiry.

icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk 21 April

NACRO: Guidance on mentally disordered offenders

Nacro’s Mental Health Unit has been working for over fifteen years to tackle issues surrounding offenders with mental health needs. We work with a number of agencies at a national and local level to develop more effective ways of working with mentally disordered offenders.
We have produced the first in a series of advice sheets setting out the desired standards which should be present when working with this client group. These guidelines can be used as a checklist for agencies to measure their services and the skills needed by their practitioners.

NOW AVAILABLE:
Standard 1 – Initial Contact with the Police
Standard 2 – At the Police Station

Each standard will:

· describe the relevant ‘point of intervention’ and the possible outcomes;
· identify the key practitioners, agencies and organisations;
· identify the desired and relevant skills required by practitioners to achieve an effective outcome;
· identify the necessary resources;
· identify the appropriate strategic arrangements;
· identify the appropriate policies and operational protocols.

Download Standard One

Download Standard Two

Suicide 'link' between partners

The partner of a person who has committed suicide is significantly more likely to take their own life, researchers have found.
But men who had lost their partner to suicide were 46 times as likely to commit suicide themselves, three times the risk for women bereaved this way.

The UK's Samaritans said men were less likely to seek help for emotional problems, placing them more at risk.

The Danish study appears in the Journal of Epidemiology and Child Health.

A team from the University of Aarhus looked at data from the Danish national medical register on 475,000 people, comprising 9,000 people who had committed suicide aged 25 to 60, their partners and children, and a comparison group.

The researchers also looked at information on causes of death, admissions to psychiatric units, marital status, family size, and socio-economic factors.

They found that women whose partner had been admitted to a psychiatric unit for the first time within the preceding two years were almost seven times as likely to commit suicide as women with partners whose mental health was good.

This was almost double the risk of men in the same circumstances, who ran nearly a four-fold risk.

Writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Child Health, researchers led by Dr Esben Agerbo said: "Men might be less prone to seek help, choose more lethal methods, be more impulsively violent, inclined to substance abuse, and be more likely to have untreated or undetected mental illness."

When the researchers looked at the effect of being separated or divorced, they found both factors doubled the risk of suicide for men and women.

The loss of a child through suicide or other causes almost doubled the risk of suicide in both parents.

However, parenthood appeared to be a protective factor in women.

In an editorial in the same journal, Martin Voracek of the school of psychology at the University of Vienna suggested "assortative mating" - like seeking out like - might explain the figures.

A spokeswoman for the Samaritans told the BBC News website: "Men find it more difficult to seek emotional help than women.

"In addition, if a person knows someone who has taken their own life, they are more predisposed to do the same if they have emotional distress issues."

bbc.co.uk 15 April

MPs attack 'confused' care system

The "confused" system for funding long-term care in England needs urgent reform, an all-party group of MPs says.
The Commons health committee said current arrangements were too complex and produced a "postcode lottery".

It said there should be a single national framework, instead of the existing situation where health authorities set their own criteria.

The government says it has already made key reforms to the system but wants to go further towards one national system.

The all-party group of MPs said elderly and disabled people and others needing continuing care faced a "postcode lottery" when trying to access NHS funding for their care.

It is estimated that up to one in three women and one in five men will eventually require long-term residential care.

Continuing care is provided for people who do not need to be in hospital, but who still need a high degree of health care.

Eligibility is determined on assessments of a patient's health needs, as distinct from social needs such as help with washing and eating.

However, the MPs said the difference between health and social care was blurred, and interpreted differently by strategic health authorities.

They called the current system "bewildering", and said it was "little understood even by those who administer it".

In February 2003, the Health Service Ombudsman warned that some health authorities were using overly-restrictive criteria.

The watchdog said some people had been unjustly denied funding and should have their cases reviewed.

Last June, it was revealed that the government had missed its own deadline of reviewing all 12,000 such cases by March last year.

The MPs said the crux of the problem was the "artificial barriers" between health and social care.

They said psychological and mental health should be assessed when deciding whether to provided funded care.

That would mean people with dementia or progressive neurological conditions were included.

Committee chairman David Hinchliffe said: "Despite attempts to address this by successive governments, our evidence suggests the current system is still confusing and inequitable."

Health minister Steve Ladyman said he was pleased the committee had recognised the government had moved to compensate those denied funding and change the system.

"We inherited a system based on 95 sets of criteria and which was clearly unfair," he said.

"We reformed it, made it legally compliant and are spending £180m compensating people wrongly denied funding.

"But now we want to go further and have one national framework so that a decision made in one part of the country would be the same anywhere else in England.

Mr Ladyman questioned the wisdom of the MPs' calls for moving social care out of local councils' control to the NHS.

The plan would create "massive upheaval" and distract from efforts to improve care standards, he argued.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "We frequently hear from carers of people in the late stages of dementia who cannot move or communicate, are doubly incontinent and are also experiencing panic attacks, and hallucinations.

"Yet these people are being told that they are not entitled to NHS continuing care because the criteria fails to recognise their mental health needs."

Tory shadow Health Minister Simon Burns added: "It is unacceptable that some elderly people were forced to sell their homes to pay for their continuing care when the state should have paid."

And Sandra Gidley, the Liberal Democrats spokesperson on older people, added: "clear national eligibility criteria for NHS continuing care" were now needed.

bbc.co.uk 9 April

Patient, 91, treated on the floor

A flagship hospital has defended its decision to treat a 91-year-old patient on a mattress on the floor after his bed had to be returned to the manufacturers.

Relatives of Cecil Baker, who suffers from dementia and was in the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to be treated for shingles, were horrified to find him on the floor but the hospital said it was "long-standing and accepted NHS practice".

Mr Baker, a retired farm worker, spent a total of 72 hours on the mattress: two days when he was first admitted to an isolation room and a further 24 hours when a low-level bed on trial at the hospital had to be returned to the makers at the end of a month-long loan. Later he was put in a standard bed.

Carole Bedingfield, 48, his daughter, said yesterday: "I was shocked when I saw him. He was just lying on the mattress with absolutely nothing underneath it.

"As he has dementia, he was not aware of what was happening around him.

"But I was disgusted at the way he was just left on the floor with a single sheet over him. I had to get down on the floor on my hands and knees to speak to him.

"I went to ask the nursing sister why he was on the floor and she told me that the lease had expired on his bed. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was just so -upsetting."

Politicians of all political hues were quick to condemn the £230 million hospital, built four years ago under the Government's private finance initiative.

However, a spokesman said the mattress had been considered the safest way of accommodating Mr Baker. "He had a history of dementia and falling out of bed. So, when he was admitted to the ward on Feb 11, the senior nurses considered that for his own safety he ought to be nursed in a single en-suite room on a mattress rather than a bed," she said.

"It is a long-standing and accepted NHS practice in all hospitals that patients who are at high risk of falling or climbing out of bed are nursed on a mattress so that they do not cause themselves serious injury.

"He was nursed on a mattress in his single room for two days until a low-rise bed on trial with the hospital became available when a patient was discharged.

"Given his history of dementia and falls, he was considered suitable for the bed and he was then put into the low-rise bed in his room.

"However Mr Baker, over the week, fell from the low-rise bed on four occasions.

"The senior nurses' view was that it was not proving suitable for him and Mr Baker was returned to a mattress for 24 hours.

"This coincided with the time when the bed had to go back to the manufacturers after the four-week free trial. It was then felt that it was becoming difficult to nurse Mr Baker on a mattress and he was moved into a regular hospital bed and was discharged from hospital on March 30.

"He had no further falls after leaving the low-rise bed. At no point have Mr Baker's family complained to us and we would urge them to contact us if they have concerns."

The hospital has decided since not to buy any of the low-rise beds. A spokesman for the Department of Health said it was up to individual hospitals to decide the safest way to care for patients.

telegraph.co.uk 14 April

Sex killer 'patient' is jailed after 40 years

A FARM labourer who killed two friends as they picked blackberries in a Yorkshire village is today beginning a life sentence – more than 40 years after a jury declared him mentally unfit to stand trial.

Victor Wilson, now 62, yesterday finally pleaded guilty to shooting one of his neighbours and strangling then raping another with whom he was infatuated, in Meaux, East Yorkshire.
He admitted the manslaughter of Joan Averil Botterill, 20, and her friend, Gladys Tate, 53, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, after Hull Crown Court heard evidence that he was mentally ill at the time and was in a "psychopathic state".
He has spent the last four decades in mental hospitals after being found insane by a jury in 1963 and deemed unfit to stand trial, but came back into the criminal justice system last year when a mental health tribunal declared that he was no longer mentally ill, and wrongly said he could be set free.
Wilson had expressed a desire to be dealt with by the criminal courts, in the hope he would "get out sooner".
But both police and psychiatrists have warned he is a "dangerous man", who still presents a serious risk of committing crimes of a sexual and violent nature, if released. Any decision on his freedom now rests with the Parole Board, but it is unlikely he will be freed.
Wilson was a 20-year-old loner with few close friends when he strangled newly-wed Mrs Botterill and shot Mrs Tate, along with her dog, Trixie, in a copse. He then had sex with Mrs Botterill's dead body.
The court heard Wilson had developed an obsession with wearing women's clothes, and would steal underwear and clothes from neighbours' houses. He often followed Mrs Botterill , and she felt uncomfortable after seeing him hiding and watching her through binoculars.
David Tremburg, prosecuting, said Wilson left Stud Farm Cottages in Meaux on September 8, 1963, and spotted the two women as they set off on an afternoon walk. He followed them and shot Mrs Tate in the face with his 12-bore shotgun, from around 15 to 20 yards.
He also shot her dog, Trixie, before catching newly-wed Mrs Botterill, who had run away screaming, and strangling her with a stocking he had in his pocket.
Farmer Eric Riby – who had been scanning the horizon with binoculars after an intruder, later proven to be Wilson, had broken into his cottage and disturbed his wife's clothing the night before – heard a gunshot. He saw a man repeatedly bending down and straightening up over the same spot for several minutes. He alerted authorities.
When PC John Pepys arrived at Little Decoy Wood he found Wilson standing over Mrs Botterill's naked body, with her damaged clothes strewn across the ground.
Her wedding ring, engagement ring and watch have never been recovered. A double barrelled shotgun lay on the ground, and a sheath knife was stuck in the soil.
Wilson allegedly told the officer: "One thing led to another and that was it... There's another one, as well you know."
When police later searched his room, they found five notebooks with "notes, jottings and sketchings" which depicted naked women being bound, gagged, tortured, throttled and sexually abused.
Under one sketching was a caption which referred to a decree nisi between Mrs Botterill and her husband of one year, Timothy, for reasons of "adultery with an unknown man".
In a statement to police in 1963, Wilson said he dragged Mrs Tate's bleeding body into the bushes and went back to have sex with Mrs Botterill, after her death.
He said: "I'd only just finished when the policeman arrived. If he had been a bit later I would have shot myself, that was what I intended for me."
The court heard that two respected psychiatrists who assessed Wilson agreed that he was suffering from a severe personality disorder at the time, which amounted to an "abnormality of the mind" that would have substantially impaired his responsibility for the killings.
He was declared by both doctors to still pose a serious risk of committing violent sexual offences should he be released.
Judge Michael Mettyear said yesterday: "Perhaps uniquely I have the task of sentencing a person for something that happened 41 and a half years ago.
"The offences were horrific. It's clear to me that before this you had unnatural desires as far as she was concerned, and towards women in general, including restraining them and torturing women.
"The depth of depraved thinking you harbour is illustrated in the notebook entries I have seen."
Stephen Knapp QC, mitigating, said Wilson had been a "model patient" during his detention, but had decided around 10 years ago that he did not want to be treated any more.
He only expressed a desire to have his case dealt with by the courts in the late 1990s, when he alleged that, at one of his regular mental health tribunals, he was told that if he had been dealt with by the courts, he would have been "out long ago".
He petitioned the then Home Secretary to have his case dealt with, but was refused. He was only brought back into the system when a tribunal declared him fit to be released and said he could not be detained any longer at Rampton Hospital.
The tribunal ordered Wilson's absolute discharge, but deferred his release into the community.
A High Court judge later quashed the "fatally flawed" decision to discharge from hospital the "highly dangerous" double killer.
Then Home Secretary David Blunkett issued a warrant to bring him to trial before he could appear before a fresh tribunal.
Judge Mettyear ruled Wilson could plead guilty to manslaughter and deny murder because the victims' families felt the case had reopened old wounds, and all they wanted was closure from the courts.
Outside court, Det Supt Colin Andrews, of Humberside Police, said: "This is a very unusual case and must have been very difficult for the families to have it come back before the courts.
"It's a time to remember Gladys and Joan, who were savagely killed 41 years ago.
"I do feel that justice has been done today. I'm pleased for the families that they've finally got closure in this matter and that they can get on and rebuild their lives."

yorkshiretoday.co.uk 15 April

Another patient runs out of control

ANOTHER resident of the controversial Abbeydale Court psychiatric hospital has gone on the rampage.

A 38-year-old patient has been charged with criminal damage after property, doors and several windows were smashed from the inside.

Three police cars and a police van were called to the privately run 46-bed mental health unit in Bisterne Avenue, Walthamstow, last Friday afternoon to deal with the disturbance.

Neighbours said that police were at the scene for over an hour and the windows were still not replaced by late Monday afternoon.

A Bisterne Avenue resident, who did not want to be named, said that she felt very vulnerable living close to the home, which houses patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.

She said: "I think that something should be done. They boarded up the windows on Friday but some of the windows have chains on the bottom of them and the wood is just not as secure.

"I definitely feel vulnerable when something like this happens. To have so many police for one patient, that's an awful lot of police. It is such a highly populated area. We've got a park down the road, we've got flats next to it and sheltered housing."

The disturbance is the latest in a long line of troubles which have beset the home since it started caring for acute psychiatric patients after the original plans to care for elderly people were dropped.

Police have been called to the hospital twice in the past month and escaped patients, rooftop protests and excess noise have all bothered residents in the past.

A spokesman for Abbeydale Independent Hospital said: "The safety of our staff, patients and the public is an utmost priority. Police were called on Friday afternoon to ensure this security was not compromised following an incident inside the building.

"We have received no complaints directly from any members of the public over this incident and the safety of all parties continues to be paramount."

The hospital is owned by Active Care Partnerships and is split into one open and one low security unit.

walthamforestguardian.co.uk 18 April

'Dog lead' nurse hearing adjourns

The disciplinary hearing of a nurse accused of using a dog lead and curtain wire to tie down patients at her Devon residential home has been adjourned.

Yvonne Thompson, 61, from Yelverton, was co-owner of the closed Widey Grange home in Plymouth from 1989 until 2002.

She denies six allegations dating from between 2000 and 2002 relating to the storage of medication and the treatment of four patients.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council's hearing will reconvene on 10 May.

Former staff at the home earlier told the panel that registered nurse Mrs Thompson had restrained an elderly woman, referred to as Patient A, in her chair using curtain wire and a dog lead.

She also faces an allegation of failing to ensure that her own mother-in-law, who lived in an annexe to the home, received appropriate care.

Mrs Thompson said she had used curtain wire to fix a table that attached to a chair in the residential home's lounge and denied the wire was used to restrain patients.

Two further charges, one of failing to maintain standards of hygiene at the home and one of instructing staff to give patients extra unprescribed tranquillising medication, were earlier dropped.

When the panel reconvenes in May it is expected to hear three more days of evidence and legal submissions.

bbc.co.uk 15 April

Also:

Nurse denies tying down patients
A nurse at a former Devon residential home has denied using a dog lead and curtain wire to tie down patients.
Yvonne Thompson, 61, from Yelverton, said she had used curtain wire to fix a table that attached to a chair in the residential home's lounge.

But she denied the wire was used to restrain patients at Widey Grange.

Mrs Thompson is facing the allegations at a hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council's professional conduct committee.

The panel also heard allegations that Mrs Thompson neglected her mother in law who was admitted to hospital shortly before her death covered in 22 pressure sores.

'Rubbish' claims

Mrs Thompson, who ran the home from 1989 until 2002, said she heard a dog lead had been used to attach a table and chair, but claims she told the person responsible it was unacceptable and threw away the lead.

Her counsel James Bax asked her: "What do you say to the allegations that have been made against you regarding this?"

She replied: "I can't, it's just rubbish."

Mrs Thompson, denies six allegations relating to the storage of medication and the treatment of four patients.

The hearing continues.

bbc.co.uk 15 April

Suicide concern over older people

Not enough is being done to prevent suicide among older people in Scotland, a leading charity has said.
A study carried out by Help the Aged Scotland and the Royal College of Nursing has suggested older people are not receiving sufficient support.

Liz Duncan, of Help the Aged Scotland, said the Scottish Executive's Choose Life strategy is poorly targeted.

Men aged 55 or over are twice as likely to commit suicide as women of the same age, the research found.

It also found people over the age of 55 are 10 times more likely to take their own lives than be killed in an assault.

Ms Duncan said the findings were a cause for concern and suggested the executive's strategy to avoid suicides had missed an important age group.

She said: "It is accepted in health and academic circles that depression is one of the most common conditions associated with suicide in older adults.

"Depression is also a widely under-recognised and under-treated medical illness.

"The executive's Choose Life strategy is a national action plan launched in 2003 aimed at preventing suicide in Scotland.

"However, Help the Aged believes it is flawed, in that older people were not named as one of the seven priority groups."

Ms Duncan said this was a " considerable oversight" given that there were 117 suicides by people aged over 55 in 2003.

Help the Aged and the RCN are urging MSPs to sign a motion submitted by Donald Gorrie MSP, which calls for improvement in the care system to recognising depression in older people and treating it more quickly.

James Kennedy, RCN Scotland director, said: "The fact that an older person commits suicide every three days in Scotland is a national tragedy that has to be addressed.

"The issue of mental health and particularly depression in older people is all too readily swept under the carpet.

"It needs to be brought into the public eye and tackled."

Mr Kennedy said he hoped Mr Gorrie's motion would be the first step towards a concerted effort to deal with the problem at a national level.

Gregor Henderson, director of the national programme for improving mental health and wellbeing, said: "Improving mental health and wellbeing in later life is one of the six priority areas for the executive.

"Choose Life aims to create greater public awareness of suicide among all age groups, including older people.

"It addresses suicide risk factors that affect vulnerable older people, including early intervention and prevention, responding to immediate crisis and longer term work to provide hope and to support recovery."

bbc.co.uk 18 April

Man's suicide bid in burning house

A divorcee who tried to kill himself by setting fire to his own home has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Charlie McPeake, 56, had been on trial at Bradford Crown Court accused of arson being reckless as to whether the lives of people in adjoining properties would have be endangered by the blaze at his home in Lumbfoot, Stanbury, Keighley, last October.

But on the final day of the trial yesterday a new charge of arson being reckless as to whether the lives of any rescuers would be endangered was added to the indictment and McPeake pleaded guilty to that offence.

The Honorary Recorder of Bradford Judge Stephen Gullick discharged the jury from returning a verdict in respect of the original offence. During the trial the jury heard how McPeake and his wife had divorced in April last year, but they had since failed to agree a financial settlement. Neighbours were alerted to the blaze at 7.30am when one of them saw smoke coming from McPeake's end terraced cottage.

A motorbike was ablaze in the yard and when one neighbour tried to get McPeake to leave the property he told her he wanted to burn.

The court heard how two neighbours got into the house with a fire extinguisher and McPeake had to be restrained by one of them as he tried to prevent them putting out a blaze in the living room. The neighbours left without realising that other fires had been started in different parts of the house and when the fire brigade arrived McPeake was seen to run from his home and jump on one of the officers. An investigation later revealed that fires had been started deliberately in different parts of the house and containers of white spirit or turpentine were recovered. In a statement, McPeake's wife said their jointly-owned house had been gutted by the fire and smoke also managed to get into to the unoccupied holiday home next door.

McPeake admitted to the jury that he intended to "bring an end to it all" by starting the blaze, but maintained that the structure of his home would have meant that the fire would have not have spread. He accepted being a binge drinker and said he had no recollection of starting the fires.

Judge Gullick said McPeake had made a determined attempt to commit suicide and it was clear that he had consumed alcohol. He described it as a well-planned-out offence and noted that McPeake had also intended to deprive his former wife of her interest in the former matrimonial home.

thisisbradford.co.uk 16 April

Nurse’s death our fault, admits trust: Hospital pleads guilty to neglect over schizophrenic killing

NHS bosses have confessed their part in the death of a psychiatric nurse mercilessly beaten to death by a schizophrenic patient.

The trust that runs Springfield mental hospital pleaded guilty on April 1 to neglect which contributed to the killing of Eshan Chattun in June 2003, when he was bludgeoned in a frenzied attack in the deserted lobby of a hospital ward.

Mr Chattun's killer, paranoid schizophrenic Jason Cann, was convicted of manslaughter on January 28 this year, but now the spotlight has fallen on the role of the South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.

The Health and Safety Executive brought the criminal prosecution of the trust, which admitted breaking section two of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

The section states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of all his employees."

Director of nursing Mary Chambers attended City of London Magistrates' Court to represent the trust.

The case has now been passed up to the Old Bailey because magistrates' sentencing powers are not strong enough. The trust faces the prospect of an unlimited fine on April 28.

In a poignant coincidence, April 28 is also Workers' Memorial Day, when campaigners focus on the deaths of those killed at work and the need for more rigorous health and safety enforcement and punishment.

The Chattun family told the Wandsworth Guardian yesterday: "We've never been after punishment for punishment's sake.

"All we have ever wanted was to find out what happened to Eshan and to make sure that no other family goes through what we went through.

"If this guilty plea leads to a permanent change for the better then we clearly welcome this. What upsets us the most is that Eshan's tragic death could so easily have been prevented."

The beleaguered Springfield Hospital has been in the spotlight recently over the killing of Mr Chattun, then the high-profile conviction for manslaughter of a patient on day release, and this week after a patient set fire to himself in public.

The guilty plea means the trust has admitted its systems and training were inadequate and contributed to Mr Chattun's horrific death.

Mr Chattun was alone with Cann when the seriously disturbed man, who had attacked other staff the same day, beat him to death in June 2003.

The nurse had cannabis in his bloodstream at the time and had been warned the patient was dangerous.

The trust said it will comment after sentencing.

harrowtimes.co.uk 14 April

Demand for more investment in black-led mental health initiatives

Black-led mental health projects have a good record of effectively helping African Caribbean service users, but more investment is needed if they are to continue offering this care and bridge the cultural gap.

Culturally appropriate mental health care initiatives are effective in helping people outside a hospital setting, which is a positive thing, when many black patients have poor experiences within the system.

But a new report launched today by the African Caribbean Mental Health Commission (ACMHC) reveals that these initiatives are not receiving the proper long-term funding, which would enable them to work more effectively.

The report is entitled, ‘Towards a Blueprint for Action: Building Capacity in the Black and Ethnic Minority Voluntary and Community Sector Providing Mental health Services’, and it makes 16 recommendations outlining the changes that need to be made.

Included in these is the need for the funding of black-led projects to be ring-fenced, which would enable volunteers to provide a greater continuity of care.

This is seen as an extremely important tool in bridging the cultural gap between often discriminatory institutional models of treating mental health issues, and black-led services which African Caribbean users feel more comfortable with.

According to official research conducted by the Department of Health, black patients are more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act, be forcibly restrained and overmedicated in comparison to white patients.

They are also more likely to receive harsher treatments such as electric shock therapy and less likely to be offered counselling.

The combination of these factors, and the outcome of the Rocky Bennett inquiry, which showed institutional racism within the NHS, deters black people seeking help at an early stage.

According to the ACMHC, this is where more culturally appropriate services can step in and help prevent people’s mental health problems deteriorating.

Co-author of the report and Director of the 1990 Trust, Karen Chouhan issued a clear demand for serious funding.

Speaking ahead of the report’s launch she said, “The funding chasm exposed in this report needs to be addressed.

“This Blueprint calls for funders to wake up to the fact the only way to make the positive impact needed to bridge the gap between appropriate services and the rising demand for culturally appropriate care is by putting their money where their mouth is.”

blackbritain.co.uk 15 April

Mental health trust’s savings plan prompts job redundancy fears

The mental health trust that runs Springfield Hospital has refused to rule out redundancies next year.

In its provisional budget for 2005/06 the South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS trust ominously lists "workforce" as the main source of its planned savings.

The table suggests the trust hopes to save £4million on staff pay but whether that would come from large-scale sackings or simply through voluntary redundancies or a reduction in agency staff is not made clear.

The list of "potential savings" also includes £2million to be saved through "clinical services reconfiguration".

Maresa Ness, the trust's chief operating officer, refused to reveal to the Wandsworth Guardian whether "reconfiguration" was a euphemism for service cuts. She would only say: "Detailed proposals on how savings will be made are still being worked out and will then go to the trust board."

The trust is still under financial pressure despite balancing the books for 2004/05 thanks to financial help from the local Primary Care Trust and other NHS bodies.

Geoff Martin, chairman of London Health Emergency, said of the workforce savings: "This would be a couple of hundred jobs, I would have thought, for that kind of money.

"It's time health authorities were a bit more honest with staff and the public about the depth of the financial crisis they are in."

wandsworthguardian.co.uk 14 April

Springfield staff ‘suffer stress and are abused’

High levels of stress, bullying and abuse have been revealed in a survey of staff at Springfield Hospital, with 20 per cent saying they have suffered actual violence.

Compared with other mental health trusts around the country, Tooting's major mental health facility fell into the bottom 20 per cent for staff working extra hours and even for staff witnessing "potentially harmful errors or near misses".

The survey, which questioned staff on working conditions, showed the hospital scored well for teamwork and for staff avoiding injuries at work, but it scored poorly on staff wanting to leave and work elsewhere. The news, gathered in the nationwide NHS staff survey by the Health Commission, follows high profile cases in which one Springfield patient killed a nurse, and another killed a member of the public, undermining staff morale.

Specifically, the survey found 35 per cent of Springfield staff suffered harassment, bullying or abuse from patients or their relatives, and one in five suffered actual violence. More than 40 per cent suffered work-related stress and 60 per cent worked extra hours because of the pressures of the job.

Maresa Ness, the trust's chief operating officer, said 2004 had been "extremely challenging", with structural changes causing uncertainty and some disappointment.

She said diversity training on racial and gender awareness had been a success, and special training had kept injuries low.

On violence, she said: "The continued zero tolerance to violence and harassment in the trust has meant staff are now encouraged to report many more incidents and the trust can support staff in that process."

wandsworthguardian.co.uk 14 April

Hempsons News Flash: Draft Mental Health Bill

This special News Flash edition of Hempsons Mental Health News Brief discusses the report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Draft Mental Health Bill.

Download file pdf file

Martindale (Nigel) v Oxfordshire County Council 13 April

This is a renewed application for permission to appeal by a Mr Nigel Martindale, a schoolmaster who lost his claim for damages for a breakdown caused by stress at work. This followed an eight-day hearing before HHJ Harris QC in the Oxford County Court.
2. The basic background facts are these. Mr Martindale, the applicant, is now in his early 50s. In the autumn of 1998 he was 44. He had been teaching for many years. In 1985 he went to Marston Middle School in North Oxford. While there, he took an MA via the Open University and he became an advisory teacher, helping to introduce Design and Technology into primary schools. He became an Open University tutor. In 1990 he became head of Art, Design and Technology at Marston. In 1995 he wanted to continue his external duties as an advisory tutor, but was persuaded, probably against his better judgment, to work full-time at Marston. He taught Art, Design and Technology. In 1996 Local Education Authority Inspectors concluded that the school did not reach the curriculum guidelines in these subjects. In 1997 he applied for the job of Deputy Head, but was not short-listed. An interim appointment, a Mr Roberts, was made and there appear to have been some incidents between the applicant and Mr Roberts, and it was at this point that he began to feel that things were getting on top of him. In September 1997, Mrs McGrath was appointed as the Head. She had previously been the Deputy Head.

Full Transcript

Drug company rebuked

A pharmaceutical company was yesterday found to have undermined an urgent safety restriction on its antidepressant drug and misquoted official guidance on the treatment of depression so as to favour its product.
Wyeth has been forced to withdraw an information pack about the drug Effexor, which is now only allowed to be prescribed by specialists in mental health since it has been associated with more deaths and other side effects than others in its class.

The government's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has recently begun to name and shame companies breaking strict rules on drug promotions but this is the most high-profile shot across the bows yet fired at any erring manufacturer.
The agency has the power to prosecute in such instances and is making clear that repeat offenders risk fines and/or imprisonment in future. Jeremy Mean, policy group manager at the agency, said: "When it comes to safety issues, the MHRA will not tolerate advertising material - written or the spoken word - which has the potential to mislead healthcare professionals or the public. In naming and shaming Wyeth, we hope this message will be clearly understood by all involved in medicines promotion."

The rebuke to Wyeth comes amid unease at the power of the drug companies - MPs on the Commons health select committee earlier this week criticised what they saw as lax controls - although the government insists it is introducing big changes.

The Committee on Safety of Medicines, which advises the MHRA, insisted on new restrictions on antidepressants in the class known as SSRIs in December last year. The agency said it was alerted in January by a healthcare professional who was concerned that Wyeth representatives were distributing "written and verbal material that cast doubt on the validity" of the Committee on Safety of Medicines' recommendations to restrict the use of Effexor, also known as venlafaxine.

A Wyeth spokeswoman said it was challenging the safety advice given by the medicines committee. "Wyeth disagrees with the advice regarding venlafaxine and we are appealing against this."

guardian.co.uk 8 April

NICE: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Anxiety: Management of post-traumatic stress disorder in adults in primary, secondary and community care.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health have published a guideline for the NHS in England and Wales on the management of post-traumatic stress disorder in adults in primary, secondary and community care.

Click Here

Keating (Paul) & Ors (R on the application of) v Cardiff Local Health Board 23 March

Riverside Advice Limited ("Riverside") is a project designed for those who suffer from mental health illness. Its purpose is to ensure that people with mental health difficulties may call on specialist support provided by Riverside. Riverside is able to respond to their needs and assist them in obtaining those benefits to which they are entitled.

This is a dispiriting case. After a review in the middle of 2004, conducted by the Cardiff Local Health Board, ("the Local Health Board") the defendant, it concluded that all the criteria specified for the review had been met save in minor respects. The review recommended a three year agreement reflecting the highest achievable score within the review. But at the meeting of the review panel on 12th July 2004, the Director of Finance, who was, after all, only doing her job, took the view that it would be ultra vires for the defendant to fund the project.

Accordingly funds can now only be provided pursuant to a NHS Flexibilities Grant for the period April 2005 to March 2006. Although the source of that grant, the Flexibilities Fund, is jointly administered by the Local Health Board and the local authority, the amount available is less than that which the project was awarded in the past year of funding. Previously it had been awarded a sum of £50,316 for the year 2003 to 2004, whereas the sum now apparently available from the Flexibilities Fund is £34,000. This represents approximately 8 months of that which Riverside would otherwise have been awarded had it been able to reap the benefit of its top prize at the review.

The issue in this application is not as to the value of Riverside's work, but it is whether the Local Health Board is correct in concluding that it would be outwith its powers to fund this project.

Full Transcript

R v Leigers (George)

On 20th April 2004 at Teesside Crown Court before the Recorder of Middlesbrough, His Honour Judge Fox QC, the appellant George Leigers was convicted of murder. On the same day he was sentenced to life imprisonment and an order was made pursuant to section 269(4) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 that the early release provisions should not apply. Against that order he now appeals with the leave of the single judge.
Before outlining the facts of the offence which led to this sentence it is necessary to set out some of the background.
The appellant was born in August 1956 and was aged 47 at the time of the offence. He had previous convictions of which the most serious by far was 16 years earlier in April 1987 for manslaughter of his wife. At the time of this offence he was 30 years of age, his wife was 29 and they had three children. He had killed her at home in bed after an argument by bludgeoning her on the head with what was almost certainly an ornamental statuette. He did this while she was asleep, lying beside her infant son.
His plea of diminished responsibility was accepted by the Crown on that occasion. The sentence passed was a hospital order together with a restriction order under section 41 of the Mental Health Act 1983 without any limit of time being placed upon it.
He was released from hospital in September 1993 to a supervised placement in a home where he was described as a model patient. He was discharged from the hospital order in 1999. By March 2003 the local health trust had formed the view that they no longer needed to provide the supervision that they had been required to provide previously under section 117 of the Mental Health Act. Despite his discharge, however, the appellant still visited the site of his former supervisors, in particular to see the manager Mrs Fellows. On the day before the killing we are concerned with she saw him and gave him a haircut. He told her that he was going to Scotland the following weekend. Everything about him seemed to her to be normal. Later that evening he was seen in a public house and appeared normal to witnesses there. In the past, however, he had told a friend that he did not want to get involved with women again as he could not be sure that "it" would not happen again - "it " was a reference to voices telling him to kill as he said they had done in relation to his wife.

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DJ (R on the application of) v Mental Health Review Tribunal : AN (R on the application of) v Mental Health Review Tribunal (Northern Region) 11 April

DJ (R on the application of) v Mental Health Review Tribunal : AN (R on the application of) v Mental Health Review Tribunal (Northern Region) & (1) Mersey Care Mental Health NHS Trust (2) Secretary of State for the Home Department (3) Mind (The National Association For Mental Health) (Interested Parties)

These are two applications for judicial review, one (CO/4009/2004) by DJ and the other (CO/5468/2004) by AN. Both raise essentially the same points of law and they have conveniently been heard together. Permission was given in the first case by Richards J on 22 September 2004 and in the second case by Stanley Burnton J on 26 November 2004.

In his application for judicial review issued on 5 November 2004 AN seeks to challenge the decision of the Tribunal, essentially on the ground that the Tribunal erred in applying the bare 'balance of probabilities' standard when determining whether it was satisfied that the criteria for detention under section 73 were made out. AN's case, which had been foreshadowed in submissions made to the Tribunal on his behalf by Mr Bowen, is that the standard of proof which the detaining authority has to meet if seeking to prove the criteria for detention is higher than the ordinary civil standard: either the criminal standard of proof 'beyond reasonable doubt' or, alternatively, the 'clear and convincing evidence' standard applied by the Supreme Court of the United States of America in Addington v Texas (1979) 441 US 418.

The Tribunal and the Secretary of State assert that the appropriate standard of proof is the ordinary civil standard. The Secretary of State submits that the Tribunal accordingly erred in that part of its direction which referred to "a much higher standard, akin to the criminal standard" as being appropriate when resolving "important issues of fact upon which important consequences flow".

Full Transcript

ADSS Response to Consultation on Draft Policy Guidance for the Carers & Disabled Children Act 2000 & Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004

The ADSS has welcomed the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act 2004. It is our belief that the provisions of the Act will reinforce what is already good practice in local authorities and give some leverage when we need to seek support from other agencies in effectively meeting the needs of a carer.

The Policy Guidance is largely clear and interprets for practitioners what the Act should mean in practice. It would have been helpful to see the Practice Guidance at the same time, as currently we have to assume that certain things will be addressed in the Practice Guidance. We have been contacted by SCIE with regard to the drafting of Practice Guidance and will seek to use this route to ensure the contact meets our expectations.

There are a few points we would like to raise in relation to the draft Policy Guidance as follows:

The Policy guidance appears to be targeted at Social Service authorities, despite the requirements the Act places on other authorities and agencies to co-operate to ensure carers receive cohesive and seamless services. It would be helpful to have supplementary guidance targeted at agencies now required to co-operate, which would support them in so doing. Perhaps this can be addressed through the Practice Guidance and suggested protocols for co-operation.

There is some potential for confusion or ambiguity in the paragraphs concerning Direct Payments. It must be made absolutely clear that under current rules carers can only receive Direct Payments for services directed at them, not the client, and even in these cases cannot receive Direct Payments for themselves to purchase services which would involve ‘intimate services’ for the service users.

Whilst we would welcome more flexibility in this area, it is essential that the Policy Guidance reflects the current rules clearly and without ambiguity.

We agree that the ‘Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families’ remains the main source of guidance for assessing the needs of children and young people, including Young Carers, but it is also the case that Young Carers have additional rights under this Act, particularly where they are not also assessed to be a Child in Need – and this needs to made clear.

As with previous guidance, discussion about Carers’ Assessments seems to refer to them as being a one-off piece of work. Good practice would presumably include reviewing the needs of Carers in the same way as we do for service users. It would be helpful if this were made clearer either in this guidance or in practice guidance.

Sarah Pickup
Member of ADSS Disabilities Committee and Director of Adult Care Services, Hertfordshire County Council

John Dixon
Chair of ADSS Disabilities Committee and Director of Social Services, West Sussex County Council

March 2005
adss.org.uk

Shadow of suicide that hangs over Highlands

BARELY a week ago, Martin Morrison was behaving like any other 19-year-old, joking with friends as he downed a few pints in his local and asking the landlord to put his name down for a new pool team.
The team will have to carry on without Mr Morrison. He is lying in a mortuary at Raigmore hospital, Inverness, after hanging himself from the underside of the pier in Cromarty harbour.
On its own, Mr Morrison’s death would have caused barely a ripple outside Cromarty, a village of quaint fishermen’s cottages surrounded by stunning Highlands scenery. However, his suicide was the fourth in a circle of friends, all of whom chose the same method — hanging.

In four months last year, Mark Thow, 40, Ivor Robertson, 35, and Richard Burnside, 36, who drank together and played in the same football team, took their lives. None left a note. At every funeral, friends delivered the same eulogy: he was young, he had a decent job, he had everything to live for.

For years the Highlands has had the highest suicide-rate in Britain. The rate has threatened to reach epidemic proportions among young men, one expert has said.

Nevertheless, the deaths among the circle of friends has sparked a bout of soul- searching. According to NHS Highland, about 50 men in 100,000 take their life every year. Up to seven people — men and women — try to commit suicide each day.

Several theories have been advanced, from the long winter nights to the macho Scottish culture that prevents people from discussing their problems.

In 2003, the most recent year for which records are available, there were 42 suicides and undetermined deaths in the Highlands, a rate of 20.2 in 100,000, compared with 19.5 in 100,000 in Glasgow and 9.9 in England. New figures are expected to reflect an increase, with about 50 Highlands victims last year. Most were by hanging.

The Cromarty suicides left police pondering whether the victims had made a death pact, shared an awful secret or had indulged in drugs. Such theories have been discounted, but for John Burnside, whose son, Richard, taught Mr Morrison to play pool, it has been a difficult week since the discovery of the teenager’s body. Mr Burnside said that he will never know why his son killed himself, although he said yesterday: “I think that when you’ve had a friend do it, it suddenly becomes something you could do. It becomes something you might consider.”

Richard Burnside seemed to have everything going for him.He acknowledged that he was stunned by the death of his two friends. When Mr Thow tied a dog’s lead around his neck and hanged himself from his bathroom door in April last year, the young Mr Burnside was devastated, but he used the tragedy as an opportunity to sort out his life. He gave up alcohol and got a new job. When, less than three weeks after Mr Thow’s death, Ivor Robertson — who had suffered bouts of depression — also hanged himself with a dog chain, Mr Burnside was angered that his friend could leave a young son fatherless.

At one of the funerals, Mr Burnside assured his father that he would never contemplate suicide, no matter how bad things were.

Yet soon he stood on a swivel chair, tightened an electric cable around his neck and pushed himself off to the same fate as that of his friends. The elder Mr Burnside, a former psychiatric nurse, remains baffled. “He was going through the most perfect patch of his life,” he said. “He had no health problems, he had any amount of access to his daughter, he had a new house.”

Rory O’Connor, head of the suicidal-behaviour research unit at Stirling University, said: “We really don’t know why all these suicides are happening. We need to find out more before we can say whether this is something specific to the whole Highland psyche.”

timesonline.co.uk 11 April

Coroner criticises 'suicide' websites

A CORONER has hit out at websites which recommend various suicide techniques after a talented young businessman jumped to his death from his North Shields office.

Jeremy Brooks was a successful IT manager who led the UK branch of Canadian IT company CBL from the second floor of the Centre for Advanced Industry, in Coble Dene.
But despite being hugely popular with friends and colleagues, the 32-year-old, of Harewood Road, Gosforth, was crippled with depression and debts.
An inquest at North Shields Magistrates’ Court heard that on June 14 last year he jumped from a sixth-floor window in the office block after working late.
Friend and colleague Frank Priest said Mr Brooks had told him he had been suffering from depression since he was six-years-old while he had difficulties getting on with his family.
He added that although Mr Brooks had credit card debts of £50,000, he would often buy people expensive gifts, sometimes buying everyone in a pub a drink.
Mr Priest said: “He was over generous with money and had little concern for his own finances. He was extremely kind to other people and always made sure everyone was okay.”
It was also said Mr Brooks would often play his electric guitar late at night in the office and often had his pet puppy Billy in with him.
Security guard Graham Scott said Mr Brooks had come into the office block at 7.30pm on June 14 and seemed normal but at 9.30pm when he was doing his rounds, Mr Scott found Mr Brooks lying face down on the pavement.
After a search of the building, Mr Scott found a chair next to an open window on the sixth floor with Billy sitting beside it with a bowl of water Mr Brooks had left.
A police investigation after Mr Brooks’ death revealed that he carried out over 6,000 searches of suicide websites on the Internet, accessing various sites which gave advice on various methods – a service which stunned North Tyneside coroner, Eric Armstrong.
Recording a verdict of suicide, he said: “Computer records show Jeremy had accessed the Internet search engines to look under the headings of suicide.
“I’ve seen the number of entries and I find it incredible that anyone would wish to run that service on the Internet. It is simply astonishing.”
He added: “Jeremy was a mix – a happy, generous soul on one side, but apparently tortured by depression on the other.”

northtynesidetoday.co.uk 10 April

Officers avert 'suicide attempt'

A group of police officers restrained a man who was doused in lighter fuel and had threatened to throw himself 80ft from a County Durham railway viaduct.

The rescue happened on Saturday when an off-duty policewoman was alerted to a 38-year-old man at the known suicide spot in Consett.

She and five colleagues managed to restrain the man, who at one point threw lighter fluid in their faces.

The man was arrested and detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act.

The alarm was raised at about 1700 BST on Saturday at the disused Gill Bridge viaduct, which police say is a known suicide spot.

The officers, all from the Durham force, are to be recommended for a chief constable's special award and one from the Royal Humane Society.

A spokesman for Durham Police said the officers "almost certainly" prevented the man from killing himself.

bbc.co.uk 11 April