Investigation and inquest
The family requested me to refer to the deceased as Jai. I will reflect that in this report.
I conducted an inquest into the death of Jai which concluded on 21st of November 2024. I recorded a conclusion of suicide.
Circumstances of the death
Jai was a 36 year old GP. She was found deceased on 27th of April 2023.
I have not detailed all of Jai’s contact with mental health services in this report. Instead, I have focussed on aspects of the chronology which are relevant to the concerns I am raising.
Jai referred herself to the Crisis Response and Home Treatment Team (“the crisis team”) on 21st of June 2022. She attended three appointments in June and July 2022, and was discharged from the crisis team to Buckinghamshire Talking Therapies (“BTT”) on 29th of July 2022. Whilst under this team, Jai disclosed that she had made previous suicide attempts.
From August 2022 onwards, the mental health support that Jai received was from teams other than BTT. These teams used a different electronic records system (called RiO). They are part of the same NHS trust, but it was not possible for clinicians to access both systems.
After an attempt to refer Jai to the crisis team (by her GP) on 31st of August 2022, Jai was provided with an appointment date with the community mental health team. The appointment date was 8th of September 2022. Before that appointment could happen, Jai attended accident and emergency (after being encouraged to do so by friends and her GP). She was then admitted as a voluntary patient to a psychiatric ward, until 7th of September 2022.
After she was discharged, Jai was under the crisis team for around 10 days. After that, no medium or long term plan was put in place, and she was discharged back to the care of her GP.
Jai took her own life in April 2023. She was not under secondary mental health services at the time of her death.
Coroner’s concerns
1. The Trust’s own internal investigation highlighted the fact that no care co-ordinator or key worker was provided to Jai after her discharge from hospital on 7th of September 2022. The Trust’s initial plan was to review this by June 2024, and the aim now is for January 2025, almost two years from Jai’s death.
2. It is still not possible for teams using RiO and the BTT systems to access each other’s clinical notes.