Southern Heath NHS Foundation Trust is one of the country’s largest mental health trusts covering Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Unfortunately, the Trust has attracted adverse attention recently following an investigation commissioned by NHS England. The report was ordered in 2013 after the death of an 18 year old patient who drowned in a bath following an epileptic seizure whilst admitted to the care of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

The report sadly concluded that deaths of mental heath and learning-disability patients who were under the care of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust were not properly examined. This finding has been confirmed by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust who ‘fully accept’ that their quality of processes for investigating and reporting a death needed to be better. It accepted that its process ‘had not always been up to the high standards that our patients, their families and carers deserve’.

The report revealed that between April 2011 and March 2015 10,306 patients with mental illness and leaning-disabilities had died under the care of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. 1,454 of the deaths occurred unexpectedly and only 13% of these deaths were investigated.   The investigations that were carried out were found to be of poor quality and carried out late.   The reports failed to improve the Trust’s performance and there was often very little effort on behalf of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust to engage with the families of the deceased. In fact, in nearly two-thirds of the investigations, there was no family involvement at all.

The report also confirmed that the average age at death of those with learning difficulties being cared for by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust was 56 – over 7 years younger than the national average.

When commenting on the report, Norman Lamb – Former Care Minister, said that the findings were shocking and ‘that you end up with the sense that these lives are regarded as somehow slightly less important than others’.

For further details of the report please see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-35051845