A young mum from Lancashire tragically took her own life after experiencing a traumatic event the year before - with mental health services admitting there were 'some failings' in her care.
Paula Halliday hadn't seen her two young girls since an incident in October 2021 and on a number of occasions had taken overdoses and said she wanted to end her life. The 33-year-old, who was born in Buckinghamshire where her family still live, was being seen by mental health services at the time, LancsLive reports.
At an inquest into her death in Preston Coroner's Court on Thursday (April 28) heard that there had been 'failings in her care'. Paula, an auxiliary nurse who worked for the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, had started seeing Amy Cooper in September 2021.
READ MORE: TK Maxx worker explains why shoppers should always look for number '2' written on price tags
"I rang the crisis team once when she was texting me at night because she was just beside herself and I didn't know what to do," Miss Cooper said. "She was drinking a lot, every day. In October 2021 something happened in London and she was quite traumatised by it.
"She was seeing someone from the mental health team every week and they would ring her every other day to check in on her but she felt let down by them and said they weren't listening to her. She was always seeing someone different so she kept having to go over what happened every time and she found that really distressing."
Samantha Ferguson, a matron at Lancashire Care which is part of Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust which provides mental health services, admitted there had been several failings in Paula's care. The inquest heard that the team had been unwilling to start any psychiatric treatment or medication until Paula managed to reduce her alcohol intake.
"Handovers weren't always fully completed and risks weren't always discussed," the matron said. "It was sporadic. Some people had to look through the notes to familiarise themselves with her. She saw a number of different people at her face-to-face appointments which isn't ideal.
"What we would have liked to have been better was not necessarily more face-to-face appointments but better documented telephone calls and the ability to escalate a higher evidence of risk. And more face-to-face contact would have been expected given the high level of risk."
The inquest, which was attended by a large number of Paula's friends and relatives, heard that a number of changes have been brought in at the trust including plans to increase staffing and issuing stricter guidance when handing over patients during morning meetings. Staff have also been trained on the importance of clinical curiosity, documenting clinical history and risk assessments.
Claire Gibson, a consultant nurse at LSCFT, apologised to Paula's family for the failings in her care. She added: "I want to apologise because there were some failings and I am really sorry."
On the morning of January 13 this year Miss Cooper had driven to Paula's house to pick her up and take her to work. Although Paula hadn't replied to any of her texts this was 'normal' given how heavily Paula had been drinking.
Amy then went inside the house in Morecambe where she found Paula dead. She had left a number of notes including one which simply said: "It's my time."
Returning a conclusion of suicide Area Coroner Richard Taylor said he was satisfied that Paula had done a deliberate act with the intention of ending her life. "Of course she was high risk and her frustrations about not getting the treatment she wanted are understandable," he added.
"In the notes she left she wasn't rambling. It was thought out and considered. The fact that so many people are here today goes to show how much she is missed and loved."
A page on GoFundMe set up after Paula's death raised £730 in her name for the NSPCC. Friends posted their tributes to her in the comments with one describing her as a 'very special person' while another said she was a 'beautiful lady'.
