Lack of Essex mental health beds contributed to 20-year-old’s death, report finds
The coroner says shortages left Jack Peatling without vital support.
A report has found that the lack of an available mental health bed in Essex directly contributed to the death of 20-year-old Jack Peatling, who took his own life while waiting for urgent support.
Jack, described by his family as “the most beautiful soul,” died on 5th June 2023 after waiting six days at home for admission to a Mental Health Assessment Unit. He had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and had a history of suicide attempts, including two serious incidents in the week leading up to his death.
Following an assessment at Basildon Hospital after a suicide attempt on 29th May 2023, professionals determined that Jack urgently needed to be admitted for hospital care, as his risk could not be safely managed in the community. However, Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) could not find a bed for Jack anywhere in Essex despite the high priority, highlighting a chronic shortage both locally and nationally.
Coroner Sean Horstead’s prevention of future deaths report states Jack’s death “was directly contributed” to by the non-availability of a mental health bed. Horstead wrote: “Had an in-patient bed been made available, he would probably not have died. Jack’s death was avoidable. Absent the provision of available mental health in-patient beds for very high-risk patients … further avoidable deaths by suicide amongst this cohort of vulnerable patients appears inevitable.”
Jack’s father, Jamie Peatling, told the hearing: “Jack had so much to offer this world, and he died. We do not have the words to describe the loss of Jack on our family. He was the most beautiful soul and yet so troubled … Our hearts are broken.”
He described how Jack and the family endured days of increasing anxiety while waiting for a bed, with daily reassurances that he was high priority but no admission and no interim support. The family raised questions about the allocation of beds and why no alternatives were found for Jack.
Jack’s case was included in a September 2024 submission to the Lampard Inquiry, examining deaths at Essex NHS inpatient units between 2000 and 2023.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care expressed sympathy for Jack’s family and said the government is prioritising increased availability of mental health beds, investing £75 million this year to reduce out-of-area placements and strengthen crisis care.
Jack’s case has brought renewed attention to the pressures facing mental health support across Essex and the country, with both local and national shortages of inpatient beds for those most at risk.