'She died in the place where she should have been safest'

Mother of Iona Imogen Lee wants change for future patients as court documents show Derbyshire’s NHS mental health units caused or contributed to five deaths in the past decade Uves 4

- TARA COBHAM

A mother whose daughter was found to have been neglected by a hospital before taking her own life has blamed the “failures of the system” for her daughter’s death and has demanded improved care for future patients.

Court documents show Iona Imogen Lee’s suicide is one of at least five deaths that failures at Derbyshire’s mental health units caused or contributed to in the past decade. The health and social care regulator is currently reviewing information over three deaths at the units.

Morag Lee opened up about her “inspiring, friendly, loved” daughter Iona’s heartbreaking final hours on the Hartington Unit at the Chesterfield Royal Hospital in Chesterfield, before the 24-year-old was transferred to the ICU where she died on 18 September 2023.

The 57-year-old mother, from Derby, spoke to The Independent after a coroner ruled in January that her child had died by “suicide contributed to by neglect” on the ward where she had been detained under the Mental Health Act on 15 September 2023.

Ms Lee said: “The inquest into Iona's death was a devastating experience, revealing tragic failures of the system that directly contributed to her passing.

“I’m still trying to get my head round that, that’s what still wakes me up all hours of the night – realising how much chaos was around her and how little support she got and how disregarded she was in her last few hours, that destroyed me. She had to go through that on her own at the place where she should’ve been safest.”