Latest news with #JaneMacdonell
BBC News
a day ago
- Health
- BBC News
Harris Mcdonell: Concern for teens in adult psychiatric wards
A sheriff says a teenager's "wholly inappropriate" placement in an adult psychiatric ward may have contributed to his reluctance to speak to health professionals before his Macdonell died age 19 in 2020, near his family home in the Scottish years earlier, he spent nine nights at Huntlyburn psychiatric ward in Melrose as there was no space in Young Persons Units (YPU) in Glasgow, Edinburgh or a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) determination, Sheriff Peter Paterson said that while "no precautions" could have prevented his death, he was concerned about the shortage of hospital beds for young people with serious mental health issues. Sheriff Paterson said that it was a "sad truth" that young people continue to be admitted to "wholly inappropriate adult wards" and the situation has worsened since 2018. Harris' mother, Jane, says the sheriff's findings and recommendations fall short of what she had hoped she told BBC Scotland News that Harris's case could still act as a catalyst for said: "Good will only come from the sheriff's findings if people will sit up and listen to what is being said."I fear that Harris' story will be forgotten within a few weeks unless people who are going through similar situations engage with their MPs , MSPs and local authorities." Harris took his own life in the early hours of August 19, 2020 close to the family home in the Borders village of family described him as being a "bright, active boy with a quirky sense of humour".But shortly after turning 16 in 2018, he told his GP that he had begun to feel suicidal. He was prescribed medication and referred to child and adolescent mental health services (Camhs). 'Mistrust' of health staff Within a few weeks he had climbed on to the roof his home, and fearing for his safety, a request was made for him to receive residential to find a bed for Harris in one of Scotland's three young persons mental health units failed, and he was admitted to the adult psychiatric unit within the grounds of Borders General Hospital, near family believe his nine nights within Huntlyburn scarred him mentally - as well as mother Jane, who worked as a consultant paediatric consultant for 30 years, is convinced her son's stay in an adult unit was responsible for him failing to engage with health professionals in the final two years of his said: "The main outcome of this FAI has been about Harris' experience at the Huntlyburn unit, which is inextricably linked to what happened afterwards."He had a mistrust of health professionals after that, and was terrified of ever being sent back to a place like that."Harris was an intelligent lad and he knew about what could happen if he became ill again." During his time at Huntlyburn Harris made several attempts to one occasion he was found a couple of miles away, and when being transported back to the ward he threw himself from the moving required plastic surgery for facial and scalp injuries at St John's Hospital in Livingston.A bed was found for Harris two days later at the Edinburgh young persons are only three young people's mental health units in Scotland - Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee - although Lothian Health Board is currently looking to open two new six-bed units with a different pathway for admission. Sheriff Paterson referred to evidence heard from Dr Kevin Brown, a consultant psychiatrist who treated Harris at the young person's unit in Edinburgh. "Harris was admitted to Huntlyburn ward because of a lack of available beds in a unit suited to young persons," the sheriff said."It is acknowledged by all that this is highly undesirable, yet as Dr Brown so powerfully observed, the position is worse now than in 2018."The sheriff highlighted that there had been 67 admissions involving 59 under 18s in the year 2023/24. Figures from the Mental Welfare Commission show there has been a continuous reduction in the number of under 18s being treated in adult units - from 103 admissions in 2017/18 and 79 in 2022/ Dr Brown told the FAI that adult psychiatry services were overwhelmed, and so the fall in admissions of children were due to lack of capacity not lack of demand. He added that as a result "delay to admission is prolonged, with young people at very high risk in the meantime". For details of organisations which offer advice and support visit BBC Action Line, or call 0800 066 066 for free, at any time, to hear recorded information.
Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Times
Family ‘abandoned' by health services before depressed son took his life
A doctor whose son electrocuted himself says she is 'devastated' by the findings of an inquiry into the circumstances around his death. Jane Macdonell felt 'gutted' when concerns raised by the family about the way Harris Macdonell was cared for when he began struggling with mental health problems, were not addressed. She said her son was placed on an adult psychiatric ward in Melrose, known as Huntlyburn Ward, at the age of 16 and never recovered from the experience. Sheriff Peter Paterson used his judgment after the hearing in Selkirk to highlight the shortage of hospital beds in Scotland for struggling children and teenagers such as Harris. He also said the lack of security on the adult ward from which Harris ran away 'simply defies common sense'. However, he ruled there were no precautions that could reasonably have been taken which would have prevented Harris's death. His mother, who was a paediatrician in the Scottish Borders when her son died, said: 'I would not, in the Borders, have had a child with leukaemia sitting on my ward for nine nights who was ill. I would not have had a sick neonate [newborn baby] sitting on my ward for nine nights who was ill. They would have found a bed somewhere. They would have gone to a specialist ward. 'Whereas for Harris it was good enough to put him in Huntlyburn. There is just this difference in the treatment of mental health patients from other medical patients.' It was early February 2018 when Harris, a keen rugby player and musician, was admitted to Huntlyburn after a period feeling low and suicidal. On February 10 he ran out of the building, heading for the bypass towards Tweedbank. Staff collected him in the ward car but, the determination says, 'As they were driving at a speed of between 30 and 40mph, Harris jumped from the vehicle.' His face was so badly injured he had to have plastic surgery. Later, in a creative essay as part of his English Higher course, Harris would describe his experience in the adult mental health unit, from the gloomy entrance, and chemical smells to eating meals listening to other patients screaming. He concluded: 'I think that no other young person should have to go through the experience I had. It was the wrong place for someone who was already mixed up, frightened and unsure of who they were.' However, after a spell at the mental health unit for young people in Edinburgh in 2018, Harris's condition improved. He returned to school, obtaining four Highers with grades B and C despite his illness. It was when lockdown was imposed in 2020 that the then 19-year-old's mental health began to decline. Macdonnell says — despite her medical expertise — she did not have anywhere to turn for help, describing the family as 'abandoned'. • David Macdonnell: Why grieving parents now beat a path to our door 'You need to have somewhere that families know they can go to,' she said. 'There was nobody who took care and interest for Harris's wellbeing.' The fatal accident inquiry determination says his parents saw Harris in their kitchen around 9.30pm on August 18, 2020, after he had attended rugby practice. His mother realised he was missing the next morning and his body was discovered in the field opposite the family home later that day. Sheriff Paterson highlighted the 'remarkable courage' of Jane Macdonell in giving evidence in public amid the 'unimaginable pain and suffering' of losing a child. Macdonell said she felt she had no option but to seek the inquiry. 'I felt it was the only avenue I could go to that might result in some change to the system, that might shine a light on what's going on,' she said, adding that she was 'devastated by the limitations of the process'. She said she has since been in touch with other families whose children, like Harris, have a diagnosis of autism with high function and have taken their own lives. The determination said the shortage of beds for children and adolescents 'should not happen' and while the contribution it made to Harris's death was 'impossible to say' it may have affected his ability to engage with services in 2020. It also highlighted the need for better controls on entry and exits to Huntlyburn Ward. Dr Kevin Brown, from the young people's unit now based on the site of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, had told the inquiry: 'In the period since 2018 there has been a significant deterioration in the care and treatment of young people in the YPU.' Brown described services as overwhelmed and said: 'The standard of care received by Harris in 2018 would be unattainable now.'
