A heartbroken mother has called for a public inquiry into a North East health trust after her young son died whilst detained at one of their psychiatric hospitals.

Ty Channce, from Middlesbrough, was found dead hours after being given leave from a Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) hospital for the first time in nine months, on April 28, 2021.

At an inquest, a jury concluded that failings in Ty’s care, such as not “gradually introducing unescorted leave” and not ensuring that Ty was taking his medication, contributed to the 20-year-old’s suicide.

His mother, 51-year-old Cheryl Allan has called on the Prime Minister to “honour Ty’s legacy” by signing off on a statutory public inquiry into TEWV.

The Northern Echo: Ty Channce.

Cheryl said: “There have been so many deaths under the Trust’s care, and things never seem to change.

“I want to spare any other family going through the same heartache we’ve been through.”

On the day he died, Ty was granted leave, and given £60 to spend at a nearby café. But, his family stressed that he was “not ready” to leave the grounds alone on the day he died, and the court heard he had last been allowed out some months previous, in November 2020.

Because of lockdown restrictions, it was the first time in nine months he had been granted unescorted leave.

The Northern Echo: Cheryl Allan, Ty's mother, believes a public inquiry is the only way forward.

Ty had been a resident at Roseberry Park hospital, in Middlesbrough, since 2018. He was detained there under the Mental Health Act after attacking his stepdad with a knife and lived with psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia.

Three hours after leaving the hospital, and less than an hour after TEWV reported him missing to the police, a jogger found Ty's body in the woods.

Cheryl said: “We spoke up numerous times about him not being very well, but things just never changed – they closed the door on us, I don’t think one person thought enough about what they were doing.

“He’d been stuck in his room with his blinds closed – but the staff were just complacent.

“Ty was treated like a criminal rather than like a patient.”

The family only learned of his release when they received a call warning them to “lock [their] doors” as he was missing, the court heard. A nurse told the inquest it was not policy but would have been “good practice” to tell the family of his release.

The impact of the death of Cheryl’s only child on the family has been immense.

She said: “Ty’s death has broken me. My heart is shattered – there is a hole in all of our lives that couldn’t possibly be filled again. If this has happened with Ty, how many others has it happened to?

“It is just failing after failing with TEWV, and failing after failing regarding mental health. They can apologise until they are blue in the face but it doesn’t bring Ty back, it won’t bring anyone back.

“Everyone seems to have a story about TEWV at the moment – surely that’s a sign that their care isn’t good enough.”

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Cheryl wants a full public inquiry into the hospital she holds responsible for Ty’s death, to “prevent anything like this ever happening again”.

A spokesperson at the Trust, said: “Our thoughts go out to those who have lost a loved one.

“As an NHS trust, we have no role or influence on public inquiries. These are a matter for government. We fully accept the need for accountability and that currently comes in many forms, including regular inspections from the Care Quality Commission.”

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