A YOUNG man killed himself less than an hour after being discharged from NHS care - after warning health workers that he planned to take his own life.

Reece Lapina-Amarmelle's death “was as predictable as night follows day”, according to a senior coroner.

The 20-year-old, from Hastings, had warned mental health workers at a discharge meeting that he intended to kill himself.

His parents tried to voice concerns about him being released from the care of the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Despite this, he was released and went on to kill himself - just eight months after his brother Kyle, 18, took his own life.

The Argus: Reece's brother Kyle Lapina-Amarelle had taken his life eight months previouslyReece's brother Kyle Lapina-Amarelle had taken his life eight months previously

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has now apologised and settled a civil claim after a three year fight by his family for justice.

Mother Christina Lapina-Amarelle, 40, said: “Anyone who knew Reece prior to his mental health deterioration would describe him as a beautiful person both inside and out who would always smile and want to make people laugh.”

Reece had a longstanding psychiatric history with a diagnosis of emotionally unstable personality disorder and also post-traumatic stress disorder.

He had attempted suicide a number of times before being sectioned under the Mental Health Act on June 13, 2018.

When he was admitted to Bodiam Ward in Eastbourne, a care plan recommended a long period of sectioning due to his history of self-harm.

However, a discharge meeting was held just nine days later, on 22 June.

During the meeting, Reece expressed suicidal thoughts, voices, and intentions to take his own life once he was discharged.

His “supportive” parents were not made aware of the meeting.

Once they found out about the planned discharge, they voiced their concerns to the trust.

However, their calls were not returned over the weekend.

Despite continuing to voice suicidal thoughts, he was discharged on June 25.

At this point, he refused to accept his discharge care plan or his medication.

It was recorded in his medical records that he said that he “doesn’t need any of these”.

His parents’ calls had still not been returned by the trust and so they were not present to collect him, despite saying that they would like to be.

His mother then received a text message from her son saying that he loved her.

Mrs Lapina-Amarelle returned the call expecting him to still be in hospital, however she found he was on his way to take his own life.

The police were sent to speak with Reece, but despite engaging with him, he killed himself – less than an hour after he had been discharged.

During an inquest into his death in 2019, senior coroner Alan Craze said that “Reece doing what he did was as predictable as night follows day”.

He confirmed he would be preparing a Regulation 28 Notice which would go to NHS England and the Secretary of State for Health, asking them to explain what action they would be taking to prevent future deaths.

He said it was “difficult to think of a more stark case which should be brought to the attention of the authorities”.

Reece’s mother Mrs Lapina-Amarelle added: “The week leading up to his discharge anyone who spoke to Reece or met him would say it was the wrong decision and he was not ready or in a fit state of mind to be discharged.

“We telephoned the ward nurse on Friday after Reece told us of a meeting the ward held with him to discuss discharge plans for the Monday, June 25, and voiced our concerns which were unanswered.

“What hurts us the most is we were denied any opportunity to speak on his behalf when the trust were considering his discharge and again the opportunity to collect him when they had released him on June 25, which was a specific request I made in my call to them on the Friday.

“This was in contradiction of the admission care plan set by the ward doctors in May which said that they wanted the family more involved. We feel very let down by the trust.

“We are speaking out about Reece’s situation as there is not enough being done for young adults who are suffering with their mental health. Our local NHS trust seems to rely heavily on community services, which are very limited.

“This in our opinion needs to change as a person’s mental health needs can vary depending on the person and severity of their illness, so more services whilst admitted to a hospital environment should be considered which would prepare those individuals for discharge which they could then continually manage within the community.”

An internal investigation by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust found a clear discharge care plan was not formed as to what support would be available for Reece once he was discharged into the community.

It accepted that Reece’s parents were not contacted and that they should have been regarding the discharge.

In a letter, trust chief executive Samantha Allen told the family: “I want to say how very sorry I am for the loss of your son, Reece.

“I am sorry Reece was not referred to the trust-wide risk panel to support the decision-making on his discharge and treatment plan.

“I am also sorry that you were not at the discharge meeting on June 22 and that there was a delay in returning your call between June 22 and June 25.”

Ben Davey, senior chartered legal executive of Dean Wilson Solicitors LLP, said: “This case just shows the catastrophic consequences of getting big decisions wrong.

“As part of the claim we obtained evidence from an independent psychiatry expert who said that it was negligent to discharge Reece when the trust did.

“This was a young man in serious need of support and unfortunately the system has failed him.

“We never received a satisfactory answer to explain why Reece was allowed to leave a secure psychiatric unit by himself whilst continuing to voice suicidal ideas.”

The civil claim was settled without any admission of liability.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said: "We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr Lapina-Amarelle.

"Our clinical staff were trying to work with Mr Lapina-Amarelle, whose needs were both complex and longstanding, to provide the most effective care, treatment and support that was appropriate for him.  We fully accept his family should have been more involved and informed about his care.

"We apologise unreservedly for this."