My autistic son did not have access to support when facing crisis situations."

Family Handout | Declan Morrison’s Father said his 26-year-old had enjoyed listening to birdsong at dusk; The family of Declan Morrison who died after repeatedly banging his head against a wall at an offsite mental health suite revealed there is no support system in place to meet their son’s special needs. Declan Morrison was 26-years old from Cambridge. He suffered from autism and severe learning disabilities as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Hours before his death he was left naked in a room equipped with CCTV cameras; according to family, alarm was only raised upon him becoming unresponsive by staff members and unresponsiveness was only reported afterwards by staff members. Now his parents, Graeme and Sam Morrison are demanding answers as to what went wrong in terms of care provided their son; Mrs Morrison states “he was left on his own devices in an unfamiliar surroundings that included no stimuli whatsoever alongside bright lights and plain walls – leaving them all on his own to navigate.” Mrs Morrison noted “He was left without support in an environment which didn’t understand and provided nothing by staff until discovered unresponsiveness by staff only then”. Mrs Morrison stated “He was left all on his own, in terms of care given.” Mrs Morrison stated “He was left on his own devices in an environment which didn’t understand, without stimuli or visual aid from staff”. Mrs Morrison continued “He was simply left all on his own without understanding, bright lights or walls.” “Declan spent 10 days at the Section 136 mental health assessment suite as no beds were available anywhere throughout the UK. As per Mental Health Act guidelines, Declan could not cope with an austere clinical environment intended to last no more than 24 hours; coroner Simon Milburn described the suite as being completely inappropriate to Declan’s needs; according to Steve Hubbard/BBC, Declan had little concept of danger due to autism; Mr Morrison believed using CCTV surveillance alone may have worsened matters further; Coroner Andrew Barsby noted that staff in the facility had not received appropriate training to care for those with learning disabilities, like Declan. Mrs Morrison discovered something was amiss on 18 March 2022 while Declan was taken in an ambulance ride home. “To find out that Declan needed emergency brain surgery – that was horrifying,” his mother lamented. Although Declan underwent emergency surgery, he never fully recovered. Declan passed away in 2022 at Sunndach House near Peterborough owned and managed by Kisimul, a company affiliated with a Luxembourg investment fund. Family handout: Declan enjoyed car trips and would get excited whenever his father showed him the keys. From 2014-2021, Declan resided there. After reviewing Declan’s needs in 2019, Sunndach House could no longer provide him with enough care and protection – yet in 2021 Declan still resided there. Declan’s family reported that his behavior has worsened after some of Declan’s carers left to work at an Amazon warehouse for an extra 50p an hour, leaving them less able to provide care to Declan at home. After Declan died, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Partnership published its safeguarding report “Something Has to Change,” noting the presence of agency staff who provided care; yet his father stated Declan often spent much of his time alone as they could not interact with him properly. “CareTech noted that, once Declan responded positively to their engagement efforts, their employees would support him directly.” Staff would then sit in an adjacent room and observe him through a window – this happened quite frequently at Yewdale Farm where Declan would sometimes jump over fences and assault staff members. CareTech eventually acknowledged its incapability of meeting Declan’s needs due to clinical care requirements – however 67 facilities around UK were approached but none could offer him placement, according to Declan’s family lawyer. Coroner Stephen Morgan wrote to both government and NHS to warn about oversupply of placements; she noted: “Demand for such placements far outstrips supply – providers have effectively become selective when assigning placements to children and adolescents. “It seems unfair that care providers can discontinue services at will with no safeguard provided by local governments,” Mr Morrison noted. “We mustn’t simply look at this as being about keeping children safe,” he asserted, while Caretech stated it did not pick and choose which residents they accommodate. Clan enjoyed lying on basket swings and being pushed by his family and carers, however in March 2022 Declan suffered an episode of extreme anxiety which resulted in police detention under the Mental Health Act. His case was sent to Fulbourn Hospital’s Section 136 suite for emergency “place of safety”, designed for individuals awaiting mental health assessments. Declan decided to remain there for 10 days instead of the stipulated 24. Both his parents were living in Aberdeen during this period; his father reported back that Declan was doing well, according to their understanding from Declan’s staff at Aberdeen Hospital. Steve Hubbard/BBC The family solicitor Saoirse Kerrigan reported Declan was repeatedly hitting his head against walls and floors during crisis situations, leading to catastrophic brain injury. She stated this had happened even while being monitored by 8 CCTV cameras as well as 24-hour nursing staff within his care site.