Urgent review into child suicides during lockdown ditched as No 10 partied

Civil servants’ demands for an investigation deemed ‘very important’ by Matt Hancock yielded no results

CHELSEA MOONEY was 17 when she died, taking her own life inside a secure mental health unit that was supposed to keep her safe.

Lockdown had worsened her condition, her parents and siblings were banned from visiting her as she languished in a hospital in Sheffield more than 80 miles from home.

The Daily Telegraph’s three-month investigation into the handling of the pandemic has uncovered the deaths of four children – including Chelsea – inside mental health units in a six week period in April and May 2021.

By contrast, in the previous 12 months, six teenagers had died in mental health units. The deaths caused such concern among officials they demanded a Rapid Review, an urgent investigation into the deaths to explore any systemic failings.

That review, The Telegraph has now been told, never took place.

Chelsea, from Bridlington, Yorkshire, was sectioned at two other mental health units before her admission to the Cygnet Hospital in Sheffield where her self-harming intensified during lockdown. On April 10, 2021 she tied two ligatures around her neck and went into cardiac arrest. She died two days later after being transferred to a general hospital. Four days after Chelsea died, two raucous, illegal parties took place in Downing Street.

The Telegraph’s investigation discovered Whatsapp messages sent to Matt Hancock, the then health secretary, a month after Chelsea’s death in which an official expressed alarm at the number of deaths in Tier 4 units – these are secure units that treat the most severely ill patients.

In his message sent on May 14, 2021, the civil servant, who The Telegraph has decided not to name, informed Mr Hancock: “I’ve just sent you a note updating you on an NHSEI [NHS England and NHS Improvement] Rapid Review into the sad deaths of children in Tier 4 Mental Health units. The number of deaths for 2021-22 is already at 4, where the annual total figure for 2020-21 was 6.”

The official then told Mr Hancock that Nadine Dorries, the minister for mental health, would meet with “NHSEI leads first thing next week to grip further” to discuss the deaths of children under the care of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.

Three days later Ms Dorries sent Mr Hancock a message, in which she explained that “we’ve had far more CYPS [Children and Young Persons] in T4 than before the pandemic”. She said that “pressure on paediatric beds has been huge” and that as a result she was “not alarmed” by the death toll.

In her message to Mr Hancock, she said: “The number of deaths is at 4, compared to the previous year of 2 – I’ve asked for the tier 4 data, but I’m not alarmed given the pressure we know T4 has been under. Meeting with [name redacted] this week for more information on the two recent cases and to run a rapid inquiry.” Mr Hancock replied: “Great. Very important.”

The Department of Health and Social care has now admitted that no Rapid Review was carried out at the time.

It finally launched a review in January this year to investigate “patient safety in mental health inpatient settings in England”. The review, which is ongoing, is being chaired by Dr Geraldine Strathdee, who is also investigating deaths of mental health patients in Essex over a 20 year period.

A DHSC spokesman said that “given the data in mid-may”, NHS England was “asked… to quickly assess the issue”.

The spokesman added: “Officials found that the close timing of the deaths was sadly a tragic coincidence and did not represent an emerging trend.

“The number of deaths by suspected suicide in Tier 4 CAMHS setting across the rest of the year, were consistent with previous years.”

The toll taken on children during the pandemic remains a huge concern.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists found that in a three month period between April and June 2021 more than 8,500 young people were referred for urgent or emergency crisis care. That was a rise of 80 per cent on the same period a year earlier.

‘The number of deaths for 2021-22 is already at 4, where the annual total figure for 2020-21 was 6’