Anger as NHS trust rated among worst in England

Ms Betchley (pictured) had a one-year-old son

A bereaved relative of a woman from Chichester who died after struggling with her mental health has criticised an NHS trust after it was rated the third worst in the country.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT), which specialises in mental health and learning disabilities, was ranked 59th of 61 among the UK's non-acute trusts in government data published this week.

Louise Hodgson accused the trust of "brutalising" her daughter-in-law, Morgan Betchley, before she died in March 2023.

Dr Oliver Dale, chief medical officer at the trust, apologised to a group of families which has been formed to highlight the themes they have seen across their cases.

"We are absolutely committed to learning and taking action to improve where it is needed," he said.

"We are working very hard with our staff to make the necessary changes and provide the best quality care to patients."

Ms Betchley died two weeks before her son's second birthday

Ms Betchley, the mother of a one-year-old boy, died from a self-inflicted injury at Meadowfield Hospital in Worthing.

The autistic 19-year-old had long struggled with her mental health, being admitted to hospital multiple times before her death.

Ms Hodgson said she had been "gas-lit, brutalised and traumatised beyond despair" during her care.

Jurors at a 2024 inquest into Ms Betchley's death concluded hospital staff repeatedly ignored policies and procedures, meaning she did not get the services she needed.

Ms Hodgson, who has worked in the NHS for 33 years, said leadership was "key".

"Time and again this trust... continues to allow staff to exclude and dehumanise desperately ill young people, thus modelling that to junior staff," she said.