Kendal family's heartbreak after son's inquest outcome

Oskar Carrick died in his halls of residence at Sheffield Hallam University on June 19 last year, three weeks before his 21st birthday.

At his inquest held at the Medico-Legal Centre in Sheffield, Maxine Carrick said her son’s death was ‘avoidable’ and questioned why the family was not informed of Oskar’s previous suicide attempt which occurred just months before his death.

On April 24 2019, Oskar was assessed at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield after he had been caught trying to commit suicide with in his halls, the court was told.

He was assessed by two mental health flow co-ordinators on behalf of the liaison psychiatry team, deemed ‘low risk’ and sent back to his halls two hours later.

An investigation was carried out into the care and treatment given to Oskar by Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust which found the assessment was of a ‘good standard’.

Oskar’s family was never told about this suicide attempt or the decline in his mental health.

Oskar began engaging with the university’s wellbeing team in May and consented to his information being shared with his mum and GP.

However, the details of his suicide attempt or concerning behaviour were still not passed on to her, the court heard.

READ MORE: Kendal family of Sheffield student Oskar Carrick believe death was 'avoidable'

At this point, no risk factors were met which would have meant disclosing anything to family, a spokesman for Sheffield Hallam University said.

Mrs Carrick said: “At no stage did we ever know Oskar made an attempt on his life until after his death. We had no idea about the decline in his mental health and the self-destruction he was showing to his flatmates.

“Had we known this, he would’ve been brought home to receive appropriate treatment. Had the GP known, he would’ve contacted Oskar. I believe that if we had been informed, he would still be alive. I don’t believe he wanted to die. As a family our lives are broken, a huge part of us is missing.

“I exist day to day trying to make sense of something that I believe was avoidable.”

Coroner Katy Dickinson recorded a conclusion of suicide and said Sheffield Health & Social care’s interaction with Oskar was appropriate.

Ms Dickinson also said that Sheffield Hallam University have confirmed there are national ongoing discussions surrounding consent and opting-in regarding contacting parents if there are children are having difficulties. Ms Dickinson said she is content the university is dealing with that at a national level.

Responding to the outcome of her son’s inquest, Mrs Carrick said the family is ‘deeply disappointed’.

She said: “We appreciate that the NHS have properly reviewed, understood, and addressed any failures in their process, however Sheffield Hallam University appear not to have undertaken a critical review of their systems.

“We consider that Sheffield Hallam University need to urgently review their internal processes for student welfare.

“We are deeply disappointed. Justice was clearly not delivered. We feel let down by the coroner’s court which has rushed this case and not properly followed the required procedures. Families are entitled to full, fair, and fearless inquest. This is not what happened and therefore opportunities to learn from this tragic death have been missed by both the coroner and Sheffield Hallam.”

Oskar Carrick (Image: Newsquest)

Failure to share information with Oskar’s family and failure to contact Oskar’s GP with details of his attempted suicide ‘directly contributed’ to his death, said Mrs Carrick.

She said: “It is considered that Hallam University failed to understand or follow their own process and missed a critical opportunity to inform Oskar's parents that he was at Level P1 on their scale of concern.

“We believe that, as a minimum, we should have been made aware of what level of concern he was assessed as being at and what the definitions of the different levels of concern were.

“Lowering the level of concern for somebody who has recently attempted to take their own life, using a high-risk method, is ridiculous. His life was in danger. The law allows for information to be shared and places no artificial restrictions on the history of events being provided.

“As this failure has not been recognised by the coroner or the university it is clear that for future students who are assessed by the university as being at level P1 or above on their scale, will remain at serious risk. Their parents may not be informed of this fact, even if the student has given their permission.

“How can this be considered to be a fit for purpose process?"