Mentally ill are neglected, says mother of suicide leap model

Psychiatric patient: Crystal Higgs jumped to her death from a multi-storey car park
Emer Martin12 April 2012

The mother of a 21-year-old model who killed herself while having psychiatric treatment has demanded a reform in the "culture of neglect" in London's mental health care services.

Crystal Higgs, who was being treated for a schizo-affective disorder at Edgware Community Hospital, was allowed to go Brent Cross shopping centre under the supervision of a trainee nurse, where she jumped off a multi-storey car park. The mother of a three-year-old son, she had tried to commit suicide several times before.

An inquest jury returned a narrative verdict last week, saying her death in 2006 might have been prevented had there not been a "breakdown in communication". In a separate court case brought by Miss Higgs's mother Deborah, 57, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust accepted it had breached its duty of care.

Mrs Higgs, from Finchley, said: "There is a culture of neglect and the patient is not put first. The trust did not give my daughter a high enough risk assessment. She was contacted by a different person every time she went for help."

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