Two bereaved mothers from Northern Ireland have demanded urgent action to fix mental health services they say failed their sons. Kirsty Scott and Mary Gould joined campaigners backed by Melanie Leahy, who led a decade-long fight for a public inquiry into more than 2,000 mental health-related deaths in Essex.
The meeting was hosted by New Script for Mental Health, a grassroots mental health rights movement. Professor Phil Scraton also supported the families during the gathering.
Essex campaigner offers support
Leahy's son Matthew, 20, died in 2012 while a patient at a mental health facility. She described more than a decade of "fighting for the truth" and said she has been in contact with the Northern Ireland families for several months through social media.
"What I need to say is whether you're a mum or a dad, you've got kids or you've got elderly parents, at some stage you're going to come across the mental health system, we're here and we've been failed by it," she told PA. She emphasised they are not seeking "notoriety" but trying to change a system failing children with special educational needs, autism and ADHD.
United mothers demand change
"The system failed me in 2012, we're three bereaved mothers who are united, and there are 30,000 more behind us," Leahy said. She vowed to continue campaigning, adding: "These mums ain't going anywhere, we've got so many angels behind us now that are pushing for this change."
Mary Gould, a midwife from Ballymena, welcomed the support and the inclusion of her son Conall's photo in a montage displayed at the Lampard Inquiry. The 21-year-old died in 2017 during a struggle with mental health.
Standards described as atrocious
Gould described the standards of care within mental health as "atrocious". She said those who speak out "have our voices silenced by a system unwilling to acknowledge the breadth of this crisis".
Kirsty Scott said they are determined to ensure lasting change. Her son William was diagnosed at 19 with autism after what she termed a "15-year battle" including misdiagnosis. He died of an accidental drugs overdose.
System getting worse
"There is not one lesson being learned, all the promises, all the inquiries you go through, people saying sorry, not one word has meant anything because nothing has changed, if anything the mental health system in this country has got worse," Scott said. She added that she has battled for 12 years since her son died and believes conditions have deteriorated.
"My story was a perfect storm, but the problem is my perfect storm is also a lot of other people's story because there are too many perfect storms waiting to happen," she said.
Families seek urgent action
Campaign organiser Sara Boyce said Northern Ireland families look forward to learning from the Essex campaigners' experience. She believes those lessons must be urgently applied locally.
"Families involved in New Script are united in their desire to ensure that the harm and loss they experienced because of health service failures should never happen to other families," Boyce said. She warned that first-hand experiences, coupled with multiple investigations and reviews, all point to the "abject failure" of Health and Social Care Service leadership to learn from mistakes and implement recommended changes.
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
