The NHS is to routinely screen the deaths of all mental health patients.
The move comes after the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) drew up new national guidance for NHS mental health trusts.
Dr Sara Ryan says guidance on investigating the deaths of mental health patients is part of her son’s “legacy”
It should mean the NHS screens around 100,000 deaths a year to see if there are lessons to learn.
‘Red flag’ scenarios
The guidance focuses on four “red-flag” scenarios that would trigger investigations.
These include where families or carers have raised concerns, and where patients had psychosis or an eating disorder.
Other red flags would be where the patient was recently admitted to a psychiatric ward or being cared for by a crisis and home treatment team at the time of death.
Under the guidance, the NHS will screen all mental health fatalities where it has discharged the patient within around a year.
But only red-flags will trigger investigations.
The move follows concerns over patient deaths in 2015.
Failure to investigate more than 1,000 deaths
It emerged at that time that Southern Health NHS Trust had failed to properly investigate the deaths of more than 1,000 patients with learning disabilities or mental health problems over four years.
The figure came to light in the Mazars report, published after the death of 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk.
Connor drowned in a bath after an epileptic fit while in NHS care.
His mother, Dr Sara Ryan, said the new guidance “means a lot” to her family “as part of the legacy of Connor’s death”.
Guidance ‘very positive’
She added that the guidance was “very positive” and may “reduce the deaths of certain patients”.
Dr Adrian James is the registrar for the RCP.
He said it is “crucial that ways of improving services are learned from patients’ deaths”.
Related:
- Connor death: NHS Trust fined £2 million
- Mum reveals fight over Connor’s death
- Percy shunted out of £190k post
- Adults fear death in poor healthcare
Published: 30 November 2018
