‘My autistic son had no safety net when in crisis’

The household of a person who died after he repeatedly banged his head towards a wall in a psychological well being suite stated there was no “security internet” for individuals with their son’s wants.

Declan Morrison, 26, from Cambridge, was autistic, had extreme studying disabilities and a focus deficit hyperactivity dysfunction.

Within the hours earlier than his dying, he was left bare in a room with CCTV cameras, however his household stated the alarm was solely raised after he was discovered unresponsive by workers.

His mother and father, Graeme and Sam Morrison, at the moment are calling for solutions about what went improper with their son’s care.

Mrs Morrison stated: “He was left to his personal gadgets in a surrounding that he could not perceive, with no stimuli, shiny lights and naked partitions.”

In March 2022, Declan spent 10 days within the Part 136 psychological well being evaluation suite, as there have been no beds obtainable throughout the UK.

However he couldn’t deal with the austere, scientific atmosphere which, below the Psychological Well being Act, must be used for a most of 24 hours.

The suite was described by coroner Simon Milburn as “wholly inappropriate” for Declan’s wants.

Mr Morrison believed the choice to depend on CCTV and never work together with Declan might need “exacerbated the scenario”.

The coroner stated workers within the facility had not been appropriately educated to take care of sufferers with studying disabilities.

Mrs Morrison stated she solely came upon one thing was improper with Declan on 18 March 2022 when he was within the ambulance.

“To search out out really your son now wants a mind operation to reside – it was horrifying,” she stated.

Declan underwent emergency surgical procedure however by no means recovered. He died on 2 April 2022.

From 2014 to 2021, Declan lived in Sunndach Home close to Peterborough, run by Kisimul, an organization owned by a Luxembourg-based funding fund.

In 2019, following a overview of Declan’s wants, it was concluded the ability may not present the suitable degree of care to guard him.

But in 2021 Declan was nonetheless residing in Sunndach Home.

Declan’s household stated his behaviour had worsened after a few of his carers left to work at a close-by Amazon warehouse for an additional 50p an hour.

“One thing so simple as 50p is making a distinction, and it is affecting our youngsters,” Mrs Morrison stated.

On the identical time Declan was struggling to know the lack of acquainted carers, his household stated his medicine was additionally modified.

In proof given by an unbiased psychiatrist at his inquest in October, the jury heard how unintended effects to the brand new medication may have made his behaviour worse.

In Could 2021, Declan was moved to Yewdale Farm in Willingham, Cambridgeshire, a residential care house run by CareTech Neighborhood Providers.

A safeguarding report entitled One thing has to Change, which was compiled by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Partnership after Declan’s dying, famous there was a excessive degree of company workers caring for him.

But his father stated Declan had “spent most of his time on his personal as they [staff] could not work together with him.”

CareTech stated when Declan had been “responsive” to workers’s engagement, they’d instantly help him. If he didn’t need to work together, workers would sit in an adjoining room and observe him by a window.

At Yewdale Farm Declan had jumped over fences and assaulted a workers member.

In February 2022, CareTech stated that it may not meet Declan’s wants and he wanted scientific care.

Sixty-seven services throughout the UK have been approached to take care of Declan, however none have been capable of provide him a placement, based on the household’s lawyer.

In a letter to the government and the NHS, the coroner stated: “Demand for such placements outstrips provide – suppliers are successfully capable of ‘choose and select’ who they provide placements to.”

“It appears improper {that a} care supplier can, at a drop of a hat, take away care, as a result of there is definitely no security internet behind that, as a result of it is simply not supplied for by native authorities,” Mr Morrison stated.

“It will probably’t simply be so simple as ‘we won’t preserve your son or daughter protected’.”

Caretech stated it didn’t “choose and select” its residents.

In March 2022 Declan suffered an episode of heightened anxiousness and he was detained by cops below the Psychological Well being Act.

He was taken to an emergency “place of security”, generally known as Part 136 suite, on the location of Fulbourn Hospital in Cambridgeshire.

The suite is designed for sufferers awaiting a psychological well being evaluation. Declan stayed there for 10 days as an alternative of the stipulated 24 hours.

Declan’s mother and father have been in Aberdeen on the time however his father stated they’d been instructed he was “doing advantageous”.

Saoirse Kerrigan, the household’s solicitor, stated Declan had begun “bouncing off the partitions”, which resulted in a catastrophic mind damage.

Ms Kerrigan, from legislation agency Leigh Day, stated: “These accidents have been sustained whereas Declan was being monitored by eight CCTV cameras and below 24-hour statement by nursing workers positioned throughout the website.”

She added he had been “rising more and more agitated and repeatedly hitting his head”.

The coroner’s prevention of future deaths report stated the psychological well being suite had brought about Declan to enter deeper disaster and “finally this resulted in his dying”.

Cambridgeshire County Council and the NHS in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough stated they accepted this.

Each organisations stated a studying incapacity and autism enchancment programme can be rolled out from spring 2025.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Basis Belief, which runs psychological well being providers, stated it had tightened processes to enhance affected person care when somebody spends greater than 24 hours within the Part 136 suite.

Kisimul acknowledged issues with the “lack of key staff”, which it stated had been partly brought on by Brexit and competing industries.

Nicky Cooper, Kisimul’s director of high quality and observe, stated the welfare of individuals the service helped was the “highest precedence”.

The Division of Well being and Social Care stated the brand new Mental Health Bill would “enhance the monitoring of individuals with studying disabilities and autism who could also be susceptible to going into disaster”.

The invoice would legally require the NHS and native authorities to make sure the wants of individuals like Declan have been met with out detaining them in hospital.

NHS England stated it had drawn up guidelines and was “fastidiously contemplating” the coroner’s report.

• When you have been affected by this story or would really like help, you will discover organisations which provide assist and knowledge on the BBC Action Line.