Dancer took her own life days after being discharged from hospital care
Evie Douglas's bereaved mother has hit out at health chiefs after NHS staff failed her daughter
A BEREAVED mother has hit out at health chiefs after a damning report found NHS staff failed her daughter.
Tragic Evie Douglas took her own life just days after being discharged from the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in November 2014.
Her mother, Freda, has been fighting for answers ever since her death - and says she'll refuse to accept the apology which health chiefs have been ordered to make.
Freda, 54, said: "How can they even think that an apology would be anything like enough for what I have lost? It's not going to touch my life or my heart after everything.
"What I want is for no-one to go through what our family has been through, because it is the darkest place to be."
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She said her popular 21-year-old daughter had suffered from depression over many years and had tried to take her own life several times in the weeks leading up to her death.
Doctors decided to discharge her from the mental health hospital's Intensive Home Treatment Team (IHTT) and she died at her flat in Edinburgh a week later.
Now, according to a damning report, it's emerged that health chiefs did no follow-up planning on how her case should be handled and she was not given the name of anyone to turn to if she needed help.
The investigation by the Scottish NHS ombudsman said Evie felt "lost and abandoned" after being discharged from the service, where she'd been treated between September 28 and November 8, 2014.
Ombudsman Jim Martin has now ordered NHS Lothian to apologise for failing to offer Evie reasonable care both before and after her discharge, and to review its policy around outpatient treatment for people with mental health issues.
He said: "I agreed that the follow-up arrangements were not sufficiently robust.
"I was concerned that Miss A [Evie] was discharged entirely from the board's care on the basis of her private counselling, when no steps were taken to contact the private counsellor to find out what was being offered in terms of follow-up."
Evie, who was a student at both Edinburgh Napier and Edinburgh University for short periods, had been working in a shop in the Capital while also teaching at the Fiona Henderson School of Dance.
She suffered from bouts of depression over many years and spent five days in a mental health facility near her family home in the Scottish Borders the previous year.
Evie had lived in Edinburgh for three years and was under the care of her GP before being referred to the Royal Edinburgh's IHTT.
The talented dancer had been due to take up a place at the prestigious Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London before her death.
Speaking after the watchdog's ruling, Freda, of Peebles, said: "I feel some satisfaction as I do think they have heard my complaints finally.
"My big worry is there is a difference between being heard and being really listened to. I will be asking to see that these recommendations are being followed."
Freda continues to campaign for better mental health services, which she believes could have helped Evie.
She said: "It's coming up for two years since she died and people say, 'You must have moved on.' How can you anyone say that?
"This report shows it wasn't just me thinking these things. I was doing the right thing when I kept calling and complaining about what happened to Evie.
Professor Alex McMahon, Nurse Director, NHS Lothian, said: "I would like to publicly apologise to Mrs C [Freda] for the failings in this case and offer our sincere condolences following the death of her daughter.
"We accept the report from the Ombudsman and we are taking the recommendations very seriously indeed, which include reviewing the discharge planning process and the operational policy of the Intensive Home Treatment Team IHTT."
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