Family of Beth 'fear for others' after death

THE family of a former Plymouth schoolgirl who took her own life while in a secure mental health unit have spoken for the first time – and say they are scared for the patients still there

-  DANIEL CLARK

Beth Matthews, from Menheniot, near Liskeard in south-east Cornwall, was just 26 when she took her own life while at the Priory Hospital Cheadle Royal, in Stockport.

Beth died on March 21, 2022, after collapsing in front of staff members at the unit where she had been a patient after being detained under the Mental Health Act. Just moments before she swallowed a poisonous substance that killed her, Beth uttered the words “I will be dead in an hour” to a staff member on the secure mental health ward.

Beth, a former Devonport High School for Girls pupil, was a mental health blogger with 26,000 followers on Twitter, posting about her struggles and her recovery.

She was classed as a “highly vulnerable” patient at high risk of suicide, receiving one-on-one supervision, and her high-risk category meant she was not allowed to open her own post. However, before her death, she picked up a parcel from the nurses’ office and was allowed to open it. It contained a lethal substance she had ordered online, which killed her.

An inquest in January this year found that Beth died as a result of “suicide contributed to by neglect”.

Priory Healthcare has said that, although the coroner did not find any prior failings in Beth’s care, “on the balance of probabilities, if the measure related to post on Beth’s care plan was followed, she would not have ingested the substance, and would not have died as she did”.

Now the Matthews family are calling for a public inquiry into deaths in all inpatient mental health settings, a call echoed by the mental health charity Mind and other bereaved families.