Mum died hours after GP said he’d ‘give her a ring tomorrow’

AMOTHER-OF-THREE took her own life two hours after a GP told her he would “give her a ring tomorrow” when she reported having suicidal thoughts.

Clare Nadia Childes, 45, from Caernarfon, was found dead at her home on March 31, after her phone appointment with Dr Gwilym Evans.

Dr Evans told an inquest into Mrs Childes’ death he was concerned for her but feared the mental health crisis team would not see her as she was “under the influence of alcohol”. But that, in the tragedy’s wake, he would now make a referral “straightaway”.

The hearing in Caernarfon was told Mrs Childes began drinking a large bottle of Disaronno Amaretto before telling her son’s girlfriend, Llinos Packam, who lived with her, that she was “struggling to cope”.

Miss Packham suggested she call her doctor for advice and Ms Childes received a callback from Dr Evans within 10 minutes. During the conversation, which lasted 13 minutes, Mrs Childes told Dr Evans she had been having suicidal thoughts and had “knocked down a bottle of Disaronno to stop the pain”. Dr Evans told the hearing: “I had never spoken to Clare before that day but I could hear tension in her voice. She told me she was stressed, felt very unwell and was thinking about killing herself.”

She numbered problems with her personal life including her drinking, that she was smoking cannabis every day, had financial troubles, had lost her father and had a breakdown in the relationship with her partner.

“She also said that lockdown had made her feel more unwell. I was concerned for her and told her I would speak to the mental health team and said I’d give her a ring tomorrow.

“She told me she might hang herself later on that evening but I was concerned the mental health team would decline to see her because she had been drinking so I said I would ring her back as soon as I could.”

Miss Packham said she left the property shortly after Mrs Childes spoke to the doctor and said she told her that she wasn’t going to do anything to harm herself.

Miss Packham said: “I reminded her that she had a grandson and a granddaughter on the way and that she should try to concentrate on that. She told me she wasn’t going to do anything and I told her to call me if she needed me.”

When Miss Packham returned to the property around 40 minutes later she discovered Mrs Childes hanging and unresponsive and called the emergency services. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her daughter, Kimberley Childes, said in a statement prior to her death Mrs Childes had been crying, saying she “couldn’t cope” and felt that she “wasn’t fit to be a grandmother”.

She said: “She had a history of poor mental health, which worsened during lockdown. After Christmas she went downhill. Mam begged the doctor to do something but she was told to wait until the next day. I never imagined she would do something like this. She loved going out and socialising and will be sadly missed by family and friends.”

Dr Evans told the inquest he went on a mental health training course that covered suicide prevention after he heard about Mrs Childes’ death He said he has also since given presentations on how the service could be improved and said that were he faced with a similar situation again he would respond differently: “I’d make the referral straightaway now.”

“At the time I was concerned about the presentation of Clare as she told me she had drank a lot and I was concerned they would not be willing to accept a referral if she was under the influence of alcohol,” he added.

Concluding that Mrs Childes had died as a result of hanging, acting senior coroner Katie Sutherland has now requested more evidence to determine whether or not to make a Preventing Future Deaths report.