A bereaved father is working with NHS mental health services to improve how it includes families and carers in a person’s care.
Trevor Stevens’ daughter Tobi, 19, took her own life in 2020 while studying at Norwich University of Arts.
Mr Stevens is part of a Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) project working with care providers to encourage carers to be recorded on patient records.
He said he was unaware of his daughter’s mental health issues prior to her death and believed relatives should be informed in some cases.
“Our lives were thrown into complete turmoil,” he said.
“We didn’t know that anything was wrong with our daughter.”
Ms Stevens had been under the care of NSFT at the time of her death.
Information about a patient’s mental health is confidential and professionals cannot provide details to a patient’s emergency contact without consent.
Mr Stevens wants this to change and believes healthcare professionals should consider breaching confidentiality to inform families in extreme circumstances.
He said: “The question that you should ask yourself is not if there is a good enough reason to contact parents but is there a good enough reason not to?”
Kelly Moulds is a people participation co-ordinator for the NSFT and is also a carer for her father.
Through her work, Ms Moulds encourages carers to learn about what rights they have.
“There’s going to be examples of when a service user may not want their carer involved,” she said.
“I think the message I would be saying is that, as a trust, we can still listen to people within the support network and take that information and put it to good use.”
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