James Nowshadi: Bereaved left in limbo by report delays, says mum

James Nowshadi took his own life in April 2020

The mother of a man who took his own life said bereaved families would be left "in limbo" by a mental health trust's serious incident report delays.

Local health officials have raised concerns over the "timeliness" of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust's (CPFT) reports.

Maria Nowshadi, whose son James died in 2020, said they should be done quickly "so there's answers for families".

CPFT said it had added "dedicated resource to help aid our processes".

The chief nurse at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Carol Anderson, said there were "concerns...[around] serious incident processes and reporting" at CPFT.

A CCG spokeswoman added they had agreed an extension with CPFT "for the completion of serious incident reports due to additional pressures due to the pandemic and staff redeployment".

"Our overall concern is the timeliness of serious incident reporting, so that we can ensure that learning is put in place as soon as possible," she added.

Ms Nowshadi's son James, from Cambridge, took his own life in April 2020 while under the care of CPFT.

At his inquest earlier this year, a coroner criticised CPFT's serious incident report into his death, calling it "not credible".

Maria Nowshadi said she "reached the stage where I was looking at the mailbox every day"

Ms Nowshadi, who works as a nurse, said: "These investigations should happen in a timely, quick manner so there's answers for families, but also in case there's any learning to be had... to make sure there's no further deaths that happen in the same way, because of any errors within the system."

She said when the original date the report was due to be completed passed, she "reached the stage where I was looking at the mailbox every day".

She said she told a patient liaison officer: "This is actually starting to affect my mental health.

"You all know about the last three months of my son's life and I've got no information. He was living with me but I didn't know about his mental health problems, so that's something I really need access to."

'In limbo'

Another reason she wanted to see the report, she said, surrounded getting legal representation for the inquest.

She said: "You have to have had the serious incident report because the solicitors can't take you on until they've seen that, to see if there's a case for them to take on or not."

When asked how delays may affect families, she said: "I think it leaves people in limbo. It leaves them not knowing what's going on."

She said she had spoken to CPFT and believed plans were in place to provide better patient liaison.

A spokesman for CPFT said: "We treat the investigations of all incidents with the upmost seriousness.

"Even with the ongoing pressures caused by the response to the Covid pandemic, we have added additional dedicated resource to help aid our processes, and we are committed to improving the quality of reports, including working closely with family members to address their concerns, to ensure all lessons are learned and patient care is improved."

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