John Powell knows first‑hand the risks of treating vulnerable young people far from home.
His daughter, Jessica Powell, died in 2020 aged 20 while trying to abscond from a psychiatric ward at Summerlands Hospital in Yeovil.
He said the lack of specialist inpatient beds close to home played a major role in her death.
“She spent from the age of 13 to 18 most of that time out of area,” he said.
“I think her medical health was worse, not better, because you don’t have that interaction between yourselves, the staff and your child when they’re in these places.
“You’re out of the loop. You get bad phone calls, or you hear that she’s harmed while she’s there, and you can’t go and see her because they’re miles and miles away.”
Mr Powell said being separated from family and support networks during adolescence made recovery far more difficult.
“These children are not just dealing with mental health issues – they’re going through puberty, they’re growing up.
“Sending them hundreds of miles from home, away from their support network, makes their situation even worse.”
He added: “The time she spent in some of these units, I don’t think they were fit for purpose. I think they made her illness worse, not better, and her unfortunate death six years ago – I think being out of area was a major factor in that.”