A recently bereaved mother has added her voice to calls for a “proper inquiry” into the Essex Partnership university NHS trust after her son died, having been told he had to wait up to 28 days for an in-person assessment by its mental health team.
The trust (EPUT) is currently the subject of an independent inquiry into the deaths of almost 2,000 mental health patients under its – or its predecessors’ care – but bereaved relatives are angry that the inquiry has not been granted legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence.
Represented by Hodge Jones & Allen solicitors, they are now seeking a judicial review to try to force the government to make it a statutory inquiry, but meanwhile people are continuing to die.
Xolile Ngcobo’s 22-year-old son, Phephisa Siphelele Mabuza, known as Jazz, was found dead by police on 14 March 2023, four days after she called a crisis line and pleaded with a mental health nurse for help, only to be told he would be seen by a mental health team within 28 days. She wants to see justice for her “full of love, ever smiling” son, who was diagnosed with psychosis in 2021.
Fighting back tears, Ngcobo, 42, a healthcare worker, said: “I will never forget that call, I was begging for support. I explained to them that he had all these psychotic symptoms, he’s run out of medication. I was on the call for an hour, it was so frustrating. I said 28 days is a long time, I cried, I begged.
“The nurse was like, I’m the mother, I should be looking after him and I said ‘I’ve never looked after anyone with psychosis.’”
Ngcobo said Mabuza spent close to a year under a mental health unit before being discharged in November last year.
In February she discovered that he had run out of his anti-psychotic drugs in December but was told that she could not request more on his behalf.
In desperation she called the crisis line on 10 March 2023 but said – despite her son not having capacity – the nurse relied on Mabuza’s description of his condition, which did not reflect reality.
“He just wasn’t himself. He had lost so much weight, he wasn’t eating, he wasn’t sleeping at night, he had no medication,” she said. “He was totally gone, he’d just given up. He used to hear voices and he said, ‘It’s nice voices, it’s not violent or anything,’ when the nurse asked him what kind of voices he would hear. The nurse said it was OK for him to stay home and there’s no risk.”
She said Mabuza was despondent about getting help following the call and they prayed together but he subsequently went missing and police found him dead in Dover. He had lost so much weight they thought he was 16.
“I’ve never known such pain,” said Ngcobo. “If there can be a proper inquiry then people can be accountable, then we will find justice for our loved ones. If lessons are not learned … I’ve got two young children and I don’t want to go through that again or for any other children to go through that.”
The inquiry chair, Dr Geraldine Strathdee, has said she cannot effectively carry out investigations without statutory powers and warned of “serious, ongoing risks to patient safety”.
Paul Scott, the EPUT chief executive, offered condolences to Mabuza’s loved ones, adding: “We are carrying out a full review into Phephisa’s care and are engaging with his family to ensure that we hear and take on board their concerns. We will ensure we use any learning identified to continuously improve the care we provide.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said it was “carefully considering the inquiry’s next steps and will update in due course”.
• In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, Mental Health America is available on 800-273-8255. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978.
