Depressed man commits suicide after appointment to see psychiatrist postponed
A depressed man committed suicide while waiting for an appointment to see a psychiatrist which was postponed for three weeks, an inquest heard.
Paul Smith, 43, was found dead when police were called to his home address on Tixall Road in Stafford on the morning of May 21.
An inquest at Cannock Coroners' Court heard how Mr Smith had been looking forward to his appointment, which had been planned for the end of March.
But the meeting was put back for three weeks because staff at South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Trust were absent on holidays and sickness.
Coroner Andrew Haigh recorded a conclusion that Paul committed suicide while suffering depression.
He added: "Clearly the delays with the psychiatrist were a factor and so upsetting to Paul and it is a matter the trust is reviewing.
"I hope something good can come out of that and also in terms of the work load of the crisis team and how they prioritise people without knowing them - lets hope lessons can be learnt from that as well."
Martin Evans, a spokesman for the South Staffordshire and Shropshire healthcare NHS Trust said it is looking to improve its methods when cancellations are made.
He said: "As always with serious incidents we conduct a full review and our report and the recommendations for service improvement was accepted by the coroner."
The court heard how on the day before his death Mr Smith had seen his care co-ordinator Rob Smith and told him he had written a suicide note and the coming weekend could be a 'significant' for him and his family.
As a result Mr Smith alerted the health care crisis team at the trust, which telephoned him twice but could not see him urgently because the team were seeing other patients at the time.
The trust offered to see Paul in the early hours morning of the morning but this was refused by him.
Mr Smith, a community health nurse at St George's Hospital in Stafford, said: "I was hopeful Paul could have a face to face meeting with the psychiatrist so he could openly talk about his problems and the psychiatrist could see him and do a lengthily assessment.
"When Paul was informed of the postponement I requested he was put forward for a cancellation if one was to come up.
"He was very disappointed when this was postponed. Paul had put a lot of emphasis and there would be something from that meeting that would improve his outlook on life and enable him to have more hope for the future."
