Psychiatric service failed suicidal young sports star

The young ice hockey star, who had represented Great Britain and captained Scotland under-19s, hung himself after his parents locked away medication in an attempt to protect him following a series of intentional overdoses.

His father, Martin Bell, complained to Scotland's public sector watchdog that NHS Tayside had not provided Iain with appropriate treatment and failed to communicate effectively with his parents after being sent home from hospital following his third suicide attempt in a year.

In a report published earlier this week, Jim Martin, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, said the case was one of two which highlighted "failures in mental health care and assessment".

In particular, Mr Martin noted that "at no point in [Iain's] care was an explicit assessment made of risk either in terms of the potential for future self-harm or suicidality".

Mr Bell, 48, said he felt "vindicated" by the ombudsman's findings after being rebuffed twice during his son's illness when he had attempted to raise concerns with senior staff at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. The family is now consulting lawyers about suing NHS Tayside.

He said: "I'm absolutely glad that all this has come to light because it just shows that NHS Tayside have been blase about the whole thing.

"To have two meetings with the top people, who sat round the table and told me they followed all the right procedures, only to come up short on all of them really beggars belief. I'll be looking at legal advice to see if we can take it forward."

Iain, a trainee call centre operative, was 19 when he took his first overdose in June 2009. He blamed his attempted suicide on mounting money pressures and stress at work, where he felt he was being bullied by his boss.

He told doctors he had begun drinking heavily to cope. He was referred to a psychiatric nurse and was placed on antidepressants.

Initially, his parents believed he was responding well, but in January last year his behaviour became erratic and his mother, Moira, believed he was showing signs of bipolar disorder but psychiatrists rejected her fears.

In April 2010, Iain took a second overdose. Doctors blamed his deterioration on drinking binges and referred him for alcohol therapy.

Weeks later, he was left with a broken back after he plunged 30ft from a building in an expression of what medics called – mistakenly, his father insists – 'high jinks'.

"He broke his back, which killed off his ice hockey career," Mr Bell said. "That was put down to 'high jinks' and alcohol because he had started drinking heavily at that time to stave off the depression.

"We knew that it was another cry for help – he would never have jumped out of a building that high for fun."

In July 2010, Iain was admitted to accident and emergency at Ninewells after his third overdose in just over 12 months but a mental health evaluation concluded there was "no evidence of psychiatric abnormalities".

A nurse sent him home the same day with phone numbers for charity helplines but no follow-up appointment. Two weeks later, Iain took his own life.

Mr Bell said: "It wasn't even a card with a number on it – it was a brown envelope folded in half with a handwritten number for The Samaritans and Breathing Space. That was it.

"I thought, 'These are voluntary organisations – they're not experts in mental health; they aren't for people who are third-time suicidal, in your care'," he added.

The SPSO report coincides with figures published by ISD Scotland, the information services division for the health service, which reveal that a fifth of those who took their own life in Scotland last year had recent history of psychiatric illness.

A spokesman for NHS Tayside said the report would be discussed at a board meeting to be held on January 26 next year.