Tragic teen ‘denied help’ by mental health service

Inquest hears Tyann Lee, 14, did not meet the criteria

A TEENAGER with a history of self-harm who took her own life was repeatedly refused care by the HSE’S Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, an inquest has heard.

A sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court heard that Tyann Lee had not met the criteria for accessing services in CAMHS in Ballymun.

The 14-year old had been referred to Ballymun from its counterpart service in Wicklow because her foster family wanted to reduce the distance she had to travel from her home in Santry to see a psychiatrist.

Tyann had been receiving ongoing care from CAMHS in areas other than Ballymun since the summer of 2017 after she had required four emergency admissions to Tallaght University Hospital over a period of seven months as a result of several incidents of self-harm.

The teenager was found in an unresponsive state after trying to take her own life in the bathroom of the home of her foster family.

Paramedics were alerted to the scene but the teenager was formally pronounced dead a short time later on August 5, 2018, after being brought to Children’s Health Ireland at Temple Street.

REFERRAL

A consultant psychiatrist with CAMHS in Ballymun, Farzana Sadiq, told the inquest she had received a referral about Tyann from CAMHS in Wicklow in January 2018 which she had not regarded as a request for transfer of care.

Dr Sadiq said she had asked the girl’s social worker to arrange a referral letter from her GP as she did not believe Tyann met the criteria for accessing CAMHS services at the time.

The inquest heard Tyann’s GP, Dr Aliya Rahim, believed the teenager warranted care from CAMHS because she regarded her as “vulnerable” and she was receiving a large number of calls from different parties about her mental health.

Dr Sadiq said: “She had complex needs that were not necessarily ones that were going to be met by CAMHS.” The psychiatrist said she believed Tyann required “long-term psycho-therapeutic interventions”.

However, the coroner, Aisling Gannon, noted that various other healthcare professionals had all believed that CAMHS was the appropriate service to provide care for the teenager.

The jury of four women and two men returned a narrative verdict based on the evidence and a number of recommendations.

YESTERDAY IN CORONER’S COURT