NHS trust sorry for sending mum on suicide course after son's death

An NHS trust has apologised to a former employee for "inappropriately" sending her on a suicide prevention course shortly after her son killed himself.

Angelina Pattison's son Charles Ndhlovu, 33, died while under the care of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) in 2017.

Trust chief executive Anna Hills apologised "for the way in which you and [your son] were treated".

The case prompted a review of all the trust's recorded suicides since 2017.

Mr Ndhlovu was under the care of CPFT - which provides mental health support in the area - for two months when he died in Ely.

His mother worked for the trust and Ms Hills stated in a letter this month, seen by the BBC, that "following Charles' death, you (Ms Pattison) were not supported, either as Charles' mother or an employee of the trust".

Ms Hill wrote in the letter: "You described how, as an employee, you were inappropriately sent on training regarding suicide prevention shortly after Charles' death which led to you breaking down during the training session and I would like to reiterate our unreserved apologies for this."

Mr Ndhlovu was transferred from a neighbouring trust where his mother had been involved in his care, and Ms Hills said "your details were not recorded on his health record, nor did staff proactively ask Charles if he would like his family to be involved in his care.

"This meant that when Charles disclosed that he was having suicidal thoughts, you were not made aware.

"You felt that this was negatively influenced by Charles' tribal heritage and that of his care co-ordinator."

Ms Hills said: "I want to say once again how sorry we are that you were not involved in Charles' care."

Earlier this year, the BBC reported accusations that Mr Ndhlovu's records were added the day after he died to "correct their mistakes".

Ms Hills said a review revealed the health records were "accessed" after his death, but "[we] could not see that any changes had been made".

The chief executive said the review into dozens of suicides - of people being cared for by the trust - would "not focus on reinvestigating individual cases, however it will enable us to identify themes and issues common to more than one of the individuals, which we need to address to take forward our work on suicide prevention".

Whistleblower Des McVey, who investigated a complaint from Ms Pattison and left the trust last year, said the view over the health records were "in direct opposition to what I found".

"It was clear on the computer programme that the care plans were created the day after he died and no-one's ever challenged me about that," he added.

When contacted by the BBC, the trust did not address Mr McVey's comments or the letter to Ms Pattison

In a statement, a spokesperson said: "We continue to work with individuals who have lived experience of losing loved ones to suicide, as well as regional and national NHS colleagues, to refine the terms of reference and the parameters of the thematic review.

"We are in the process of appointing an external body and an external chair to take this important piece of work forward, which will ensure an objective and independent review.

"We remain fully committed to learning from our most serious incidents and embedding this learning into our practice to prevent future deaths."