A mum-of-three was found hanged hours after a mental health crisis team were allegedly due to see her for an emergency appointment.
Natasha Adams, 25, was found dead at her home in Solihull, West Midlands, by a neighbour on August 12.
She had gone to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital the night before seeking help, and is understood to have seen staff from Solihull and Birmingham Mental Health Hospital Trust, who are based at the site.
Her family claim they were told that the community mental health staff at the hospital arranged for someone from their home care team to visit Natasha at her flat on that Thursday.
But they say nobody turned up until the following day, hours after Natasha’s body was discovered.
Her heartbroken mum Marie said: ‘She went to A&E. The hospital said they would arrange for the mental health home care crisis team to come and see her the following morning.
‘So Tasha left the hospital at about 1.30am on Thursday (August 12). I think she’d been there for about three hours.
‘After Tasha’s death, the crisis team told me they had been due to visit her on the Thursday morning. They said, “We’re so sorry, there’s going to be an investigation”.
‘They sent someone out to see Tasha for the first time on Friday, August 13, at 11am, by which time she was dead.’
Marie said her eldest daughter, a former hairdresser, had suffered with mental health issues since her school days, during which time she also underwent a heart operation.
She said: ‘She was bullied at school, so she came out of school early.
‘She had heart surgery when she was younger and I think the bullying and the heart surgery triggered her mental health problems.’
Those issues continued into adulthood, Marie said, resulting in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder last year.
But Marie went on: ‘She always put a smile on her face when she saw people. She helped so many people with mental health, literally.
‘There was one young woman Natasha sat with for 13 hours because this young woman was suicidal.
‘That young woman has told us that if it wasn’t for Natasha she wouldn’t be here with her children.’
Natasha’s own three boys are now being looked after by her parents.
Marie said the loss of her ‘best friend’ left her feeling like ‘my whole heart is being ripped out of my chest’.
She went on: ‘My husband is not coping at all. He is absolutely heartbroken and devastated. She was our baby.
‘And to know that she helped so many people, she was so lovely and bubbly, everybody told stories at her vigil that we held outside her flat.
‘Tasha was my best friend, she was my rock.’
Solihull and Birmingham Mental Health Hospital Trust, which operates the Care Home Team, said: ‘Our thoughts are with Natasha’s family at this sad and difficult time.
‘A full and thorough investigation is underway. Natasha’s family will be involved and will have the opportunity to have any questions and concerns addressed as part of that process.
‘Until that investigation is completed, and the coroner’s inquest is held, we cannot comment further. Our sympathies are with all of her friends and family at this sad time.’
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the QE Hospital, said: ‘The Trust offers its heartfelt condolences to the family of Natasha at a horrendously difficult time for them.
‘We will engage with Natasha’s family, and the Coroner, in their investigation of Natasha’s tragic death.’
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