ONE MILLION LEFT WITH NO MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT

‘Sufferers refused treatment ended up killing themselves’

- EMER SCULLY

MORE than a million people with mental health problems have been ignored by the NHS in 12 months.

Some 1.1million had their referrals closed without treatment between June 2021 and 2022, according to NHS Digital.

One patient, Fiona, 36, suffers from OCD and anxiety but is often turned away from hospital.

At her worst, she went to A&E near her home in Littlehampton, Sussex, every two weeks because she wanted to kill herself.

She told the Sunday Mirror: “They would always say, ‘There’s no new beds’. No matter what condition you’re in, they send you home.”

Her parents used their savings to pay £11,000 to send her to the private Southampton Priory after she was turned away from Worthing Hospital’s A&E despite a suicide attempt.