Widower taking care campaign to Parliament

The widower of a woman suffering from postnatal depression who stepped in front of a train believing she was a bad mother is planning to take his battle for improvements in care for other sufferers to Parliament.

Chris Bingley told an inquest that his wife, Joanne, who had given birth to the couple’s first child, Emily, 10 weeks before she died, was struggling to cope.

The couple had sought medical help but a doctor had said she would be better off being cared for at home, when they both thought she should have been in hospital, the three-day inquest in Bradford heard.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Yesterday West Yorkshire Coroner, Prof Paul Marks, recorded a narrative verdict that Mrs Bingley stepped in front of a train intending to take her own life.

He had been asked by Mr Bingley’s legal team to record a verdict of suicide contributed to by neglect or lack of care, but he said there was not enough proof.

He told the family: “To lose a mother and be left with a little child who will not know their mother must be a dreadful thing. Hopefully, these procedures will allow you some element of closure.”

Speaking after the hearing Mr Bingley said he was taking his battle for National Health Service improvements to Parliament to stop the toll of deaths.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “In 2009 there were 700,000 births of which 10 per cent – 70,000 mothers – suffered post natal depression of which three per cent had the severe form my wife had.

“The number of deaths has remained constant over the last 10 years at around 250 a year.

“Lessons learned from the people who have died have to be turned into guidelines.”

Mrs Bingley, 39, of Fartown, Huddersfield, and her husband, a chartered management accountant, had longed for a child, but Mrs Bingley had suffered miscarriages and the couple had been turned down for adoption because they were overweight.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

When Emily arrived, Mrs Bingley, a nurse with 20 years experience, had difficulty breast feeding and when her daughter’s weight reduced began to bottle feed her. The baby put on weight and began to settle but Mrs Bingley had started to become depressed.

She was prescribed medication but no trace of it was found in her system during the post-mortem.

Mr Bingley, who had told the inquest he had pleaded for his wife to be hospitalised so she would be “safe and secure” after expressing suicidal thoughts, was given a home-based care plan after he was told she would better off at home. He was the designated carer, although health professionals made regular visits to his home.

The hearing heard how she left her home on the morning of April 30 last year and was killed instantly when she was hit by a train near Deighton railway station, Huddersfield. A post-mortem revealed she died of multiple injuries.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Earlier the results of an independent inquiry by Dr Margaret Oates, an expert on postnatal depression, which was demanded by Mr Bingley, were revealed.

Dr Oates concluded: “On the basis of what is written about her history and mental state there is evidence that the possibility of admission should have been part of the initial care plan and discussed with the patient and her husband as a treatment option if she became worse or did not improve.

“From documentation, there is evidence there were clinical indicators for her to be admitted to a mother and baby unit on April 27 (three days before her death) if not before.”

The hearing was told the tragedy had led to three internal investigations by the trusts involved in Mrs Bingley’s care – Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust, South West Yorkshire Partnership Foundation Trust, and the former Kirklees Community Health Care Trust.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Vickie Duckworth, assistant director of Kirklees Primary Care Trust, said it had also taken the unusual step of commissioning the independent report by Dr Oates to feed into the results of the internal investigations.

This had resulted in a 21-point action plan which was now being implemented.

Key measures included recording medication after it emerged Mr Bingley had been delegated the job of making sure his wife took her anti-depressants – which all the evidence showed she had not been taking.

Other recommendations included a specialist unit to help women with the same illness.

Related topics: