I asked for help at 10am, got a réply at 3.10pm saying 'busy today..then I ended up on the motorway bridge

Mum reveals she has tried to take her own life over 40 times as she accuses health board over lack of support

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

A RAPE victim who tried to take her own life more than 40 times believes a lack of support from her local health board has put her life at risk.

Eilidh McCall, 32, attends counselling once a week but says when she is at crisis point there is often no one available to help her and she has had to rely on the police.

The mum of one from Falkirk revealed she has often been unable to access a counsellor when she has been at her lowest point due the lack of cover in the evening and at weekends and strict rules at her support group.

And after the Daily Record contacted her local health board to raise her concerns, Eildih says she was "kicked out" of the counselling sessions altogether.

The latest mental health concerns at NHS Forth Valley follow yesterday's revelations from a whistleblower about the death of a patient who was allegedly over sedated.

Jake Llewellyn's death in Forth Valley Royal Hospital is being probed by police.

A whistleblower within the health board's mental health services says a "toxic" culture at the hospital has led to deaths of vulnerable patients who have been turned away.

Last night, Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "This approach to mental health care is something you would expect to find in the pages of a Dickens novel.

That somebody facing the worst imaginable personal crisis is actively punished via the terms of some draconian agreement beggars belief. The health board must investigate this in its entirety."

Eilidh attended Woodlands Resource Centre in Falkirk once a week, where she was on a lifeline behavioural therapy course.