Disclaimer: ‘Institutional Abandonment: DHSC Ignores my Plea for MH Support’ is not an attack on individuals or institutions. It is an urgent request for assistance in sustaining my life, as well as a call to end mental health neglect. I am raising this issue in the public interest to ensure that we see an improvement in crisis care across the UK. 

Trigger Warning: This post discusses suicide and mental health neglect that some readers may find distressing. If you require assistance, please call NHS 111 (option 2) or the Samaritans freephone number 116 123.

Summary

My recent blog posts document how, following my surviving a fatal suicide attempt in February 2025, mental health services and social services have left me without any support, outreach, or safeguarding. It’s damning.

There is no one to turn to, and every day presents a challenge to persevere. The pain of this institutional abandonment hurts like no other. TEWV and North Yorkshire County Council’s abandonment has added another layer to the years of institutional harm that I have experienced. This post documents my direct appeal to NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for their intervention and help.

The Pain of Institutional Abandonment

I created the video below as part of my campaign video advocacy series. In this video, I speak directly to TEWV and NYCC, telling them how their silence and abandonment feel. I explain that if I don’t survive, it isn’t because I haven’t ‘engaged’ or am ‘complex’. These narratives are frequently used against patients who die as a result of mental health neglect.

I make it clear, especially to Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Trust (TEWV,) that I have made numerous attempts to engage, but they are the ones who have discharged me and barred me from attending Accident and Emergency at Scarborough Hospital for mental health support. They have cut off all crisis care and refused to help me. It is not me. While I will do everything I can to stay alive, if I do not, I do not want their failure and neglect to be interpreted as my refusal to engage.

My Plea to Penny Dash

I am profoundly struggling. In this video, I make a request to Penny Dash, the newly appointed chair of NHS England, and to the Department for Health and Social Care for them to put some urgent mental health support in place for me. I made this public request in August 2025 and again in September 2025. I have made it abundantly clear that I do not think I will survive without help.

In this video, I ask them to break their silence, and I articulate how institutional silence feels. I ask Penny Dash why the NHS is treating me in this cruel manner.  I ask her why the NHS has frozen me out in this way.

In this video, I ask Penny Dash to put my safety first. I remind her that she started her tenure as chair of NHS England speaking about the importance of patient safety and transparency. In only July and August 2025, Penny Dash spoke about the importance of holding individual teams and boards to account, and she proposed the streamlining of safety regulation.

I plead with Penny Dash and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for them to put in place some urgent mental health support to ensure that my life does not end in tragedy.

Conclusion

I posted this video on X and tagged in NHS England, the DHSC and 30 other regulatory bodies. I also copied in forty elected representatives, including Baroness Hollins. Baroness Hollins has written extensively on safeguarding failures and mental health abuse. This video was shared with them all twice, but I have received no response.

I’ve been met with more silence.

This lack of response from them is not an administrative oversight. It is a calculated choice to ignore my urgent pleas for help. Their silence highlights the sinister contradiction between what these governing bodies preach and what they actually do. They are choosing to put institutional convenience over saving my life. By choosing to remain silent, they are now complicit in the harm.

This silence is not patient safety or institutional accountability. Their refusal to respond to my request for assistance puts the patient in danger. It constitutes institutional cowardice and state-coerced cruelty.

The lack of response from NHS England proves that patient safety is not currently a reality that they embody in their practice. It is a politically correct slogan that they flout for convenience.

Video 16: Video Advocacy Campaign

Photo Credits: Mart Production, Nejc Kosip and Germar Demon on Pexels.