THE death of a woman who took her own life has prompted a coroner to express concern about standards of service offered by the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT).

Rebecca Mundy, assistant coroner for Essex, made her comments following an inquest into the death of Billericay woman Nadia Wyatt, 53, earlier this month when a verdict of suicide by hanging was recorded.

Following the inquest, Ms Munday published a report aimed at ensuring action was taken to try and prevent repeats of the issues highlighted during the hearing. She found eight failings by the service and has called on Paul Scott, EPUT'S chief executive officer, to act on those findings.

Though Mrs Wyatt lived in Billericay and was under care of EPUT's unit at Colchester Hospital, the review of service includes actions at the trust's unit at Basildon Hospital and the service it offers to support residents in Thurrock.

Giving a detailed presentation into changes being made at EPUT (which can be viewed via this link) Mr Scott had spoken of the impending bad news reports he was expecting when he addressed a meeting of Thurrock Council's health and well-being committee recently and assured members that steps were already being taken to rectify historic failings and improve the service.

Mr Scott told the meeting: "We are making progress and we are doing so under a lot of scrutiny.

"There are some difficult stories that will come out about the past over the next year or two.

"We are learning lessons and moving forward to retain the confidence of our community."

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