A MOTHER has won a three year legal battle for recognition that her son might not have killed himself but for mistakes at a York mental hospital.

Carsten Armstrong, 26, of Heworth, who had bipolar disorder, took his own life while on overnight leave from Bootham Park Hospital, where he was a voluntary patient.

His mother, Elaine Armstrong, has spent more than three years pursuing a clinical negligence claim against Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which provided mental health services at the hospital. The claim has now been settled.

Mrs Armstrong contended that had appropriate inquiries and precautions been taken by the hospital, overnight leave would not have been arranged and Carsten would not have taken his own life.

Langleys Solicitors, which handled her claim, said there was a failure to act on Carsten’s refusal to take his medication the previous night and to conduct a re-risk assessment prior to his period of overnight leave.

“Carsten had in fact lost his mobile phone and the hospital had no means of contacting him,” said a spokeswoman.

“It also failed to act on a telephone call made to the hospital by one of Carsten’s friends on the night of his death, who was concerned about his welfare.

“The hospital also failed to involve Mrs Armstrong in the decision-making process for Carsten to have overnight leave. Whilst not a requirement, staff had previously involved her in all decisions.”

Mrs Armstrong, a retired assistant headteacher at Joseph Rowntree School, said: “As a family, we now have the recognition that mistakes were made. It’s been a long battle – there was an injustice for Carsten who was on the receiving end of a set of circumstances which included poor judgement and systems.

“I thought Carsten was in a safe place – I put my trust in the doctors and nurses treating him.”

Mrs Armstrong praised the ‘humane yet professional’ approach of her solicitor, clinical negligence specialist Andrew Cragg, who had shown deep understanding for the family’s plight and sorrow.

Mr Cragg said Carsten’s family’s courage in highlighting the errors would hopefully mean the same would not happen to another family, but said it was disappointing the claim was not concluded sooner, with a failure by ‘NHS Resolution’ to acknowledge any wrongdoing until court proceedings were issued. “This action prolonged the heartache for Mrs Armstrong,” he said.

A trust spokesperson said: “We continue to offer our condolences to Carsten’s mother and family. We conducted a thorough review of the service following this incident and implemented a number of recommendations.” She added that the trust had since ceased providing local mental health services in the Vale of York, and they were now provided by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.