Fresh calls for faster mental health service upgrades after tragedy

Mental health campaigners in Dundee continue to criticise the pace of change in crisis care, after a grandmother took her own life following her discharge from the Carseview Centre.

Yesterday it was reported Stephanie Mitchell claimed Carseview had “failed” her mum Agnes Carrie, who took her own life in November 2020.

Agnes battled with a range of psychological issues and had been in the mental health centre numerous times in the last two years, but died after being discharged.

Prior to Agnes’s case emerging, campaigners had already spoken of their frustration a year on from a root-and-branch review of mental health provision on Tayside.

Although the Strang Report, published in February 2020, highlighted 51 different aspects for attention, those who’d also lost loved ones and have been involved in the subsequent improvement programme remained unconvinced that enough has been done.

NHS Tayside maintain reforms are being carried out.

Yesterday Phil Welsh, whose son Lee took his own life in August 2017, added his voice to the concerned criticism. Phil, who also runs the campaign group Not In Vain For Lee, said: “This is another horrendous story of failure.

“This death was preventable because Agnes had been in and out of hospital so many times and this wasn’t picked up.

“GPS just give you antidepressants and tell you to come back in a couple of weeks.

“But sometimes it is a change of lifestyle, exercise or dietary changes that are needed rather than medication.

“If you catch these people early it doesn’t always have to lead to suicide.”

He added: “We want to get a 24-hour crisis centre for Dundee – there is one in Edinburgh and it is absolutely brilliant.

“If you call the Edinburgh centre you get seen that day and it could just be providing a safe space or having a chat, but you can also stay overnight if you need to.

“Agnes fell through the cracks and that doesn’t instil much confidence in the implementation of the Strang Report recommendations.”

Brook Marshall from Feeling Strong, a Dundeebased charity helping young people with mental health issues, said: “We have seen a huge increase in both the number of young people booking into our peer listening service and the amount of young people accessing our website and downloading our resources.

“We call on the government to invest in services and get money in the hands of small organisations like ourselves as well as the NHS as quickly as possible.”

NHS Tayside did not respond to a request for comment in relation to the latest claims, but said yesterday: “Due to patient confidentiality, we are unable to comment on matters relating to individual patients.

“We have been trying to contact the family without success and would ask them to please get in contact with us as soon as possible.”

LOSS: Agnes Carrie had been in the Carseview Centre many times in the last two years.