Pledge made over joined-up mental health services

A health trust says it will bring in new measures for patients receiving both NHS and private mental health treatment following the death of a woman.

Wendy Eyles, 55, took her own life in Kettering, Northamptonshire, in October 2024.

Assistant coroner Hassan Shah raised concerns in a prevention of future deaths report that there was no notification system to ensure NHS staff were aware if a patient had received private psychiatric treatment.

Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said it was committed "to learning from incidents and improving our practices".

In the report published in December, Shah said even when a GP was told about a patient receiving private psychiatric treatment, it did not trigger a notification to NHS mental health services.

"Notification of the dual treatment may then be entirely dependent upon the information being shared by the patient," he said.

Shah quoted a patient safety incident investigation (PSII) that found there was "no protocol for patients open to private and NHS psychiatry at Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust", and it was "problematic" if two psychiatric consultants were overseeing the same patient.

"It can cause confusion and detriment to the patient if medication changes are not communicated between parties and represents a risk to patient safety," the PSII report found.

In response, a spokesperson for the NHS trust said: "We will introduce new measures to guide our clinicians on managing patients receiving both NHS and private healthcare at the same time.

"For any patients receiving private treatment, we also stress the importance of notifying their treating NHS clinician to ensure they are receiving the best possible support for their needs."

A spokesperson for Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board said: "Alongside our health partners, we are reviewing the issues raised within the coroner's report and are considering how best to address them."

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