{"id":575794,"date":"2026-04-10T11:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T11:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/575794\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T11:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T11:23:10","slug":"sophie-had-died-and-still-her-mental-health-doctor-was-getting-it-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/575794\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophie had died – and still her mental health doctor was getting it wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sophie Towle’s mum says there are \u201creally good people\u201d in mental health care, but not enough of them<\/p>\n

Joseph Connolly Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n

06:00, 10 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"Mid-aged<\/p>\n

Leisa (left) and Jeremy Towle are fighting for change after their daughter’s death(Image: Joseph Raynor\/ Reach PLC)<\/p>\n

Before the inquest into her daughter Sophie\u2019s death at a mental health hospital, Leisa Towle received a pack of documents.<\/p>\n

Among them was a witness statement from Sophie\u2019s doctor at Sherwood Oaks Hospital in Mansfield<\/a> \u2013 part of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS<\/a> Foundation Trust.<\/p>\n

The doctor writes about Sophie\u2019s life, her education, and her treatment plan on the ward.<\/p>\n

He gets it wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t know her at all,\u201d says Leisa, something which she\u2019d already suspected.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fuming. He said she was a \u2018Cambridgeshire University\u2019 student and that she was allowed a few hours leave each day with staff and family. She wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophie Towle, Leisa\u2019s daughter, is one of the many case studies we\u2019re highlighting this week as part of a campaign to shine a light on the significant improvement still needed across mental healthcare services in Nottinghamshire.<\/a><\/p>\n

A jury ruled in November that neglect by mental health hospital staff contributed to her death in 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been nearly two years since then, but Leisa remains concerned that those issues are yet to be properly tackled.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a culture and culture is harder to change than procedures,\u201d says Leisa. \u201cYou\u2019re battling with staff who are stretched, but it\u2019s how you change their mindset. That\u2019s the difficult thing, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Sophie\u2019s death, Leisa has been in touch with Nottinghamshire Healthcare\u2019s director of nursing, Diane Hull.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s trying, as a bereaved victim, to help drive change.<\/p>\n

‘It made her mental health worse’<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the biggest things is listening,\u201d Leisa says. \u201cListening to patients and listening to families and involving them in every step of the care.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause often we were excluded, or we didn\u2019t know what was happening, and Sophie didn\u2019t know what was happening. It made her mental health worse because she thought people were doing things behind her back.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was only in Nottinghamshire that Sophie, who was diagnosed with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), experienced these problems.<\/p>\n

\"Young<\/p>\n

Sophie with her mum, Leisa(Image: Leisa Towle)<\/p>\n

When she stayed at hospitals run by Rotherham, Doncaster & South Humber Trust, she had an entirely different experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Doncaster, they seemed to be very coordinated,\u201d says Leisa. \u201cEveryone seemed to know what they were doing and working to the same aims. In Nottinghamshire, sometimes the left hand didn\u2019t know what the right hand was doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctor in Doncaster just knew Sophie. She really knew her, as a person, not just as a patient. She would go in and see Sophie in the morning if she was still in bed and help her get up. I don\u2019t think the doctors in Nottinghamshire ever had that human touch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leisa thinks Sophie would still be alive if she had stayed in Doncaster. She was moved back to a Nottinghamshire Healthcare ward when a bed became available because, being from Mapperley<\/a>, it was her \u201chome\u201d NHS trust.<\/p>\n

One to one observations<\/p>\n

In Doncaster, Sophie was immediately put under one-to-one observations \u2013 meaning someone was watching her 24 hours a day, including when she slept or went to the bathroom.<\/p>\n

In Nottinghamshire, Leisa says they avoided one-to-one observations \u201cat all costs\u201d because they were viewed as \u201crestrictive\u201d and \u201cdeskilling,\u201d and patients were meant to build their own skills to deal with their emotions.<\/p>\n

But being on one-to-one worked for Sophie, Leisa says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Sophie inside and out,\u201d says Leisa. \u201cIt took me a long time, but I did. But the staff weren\u2019t willing to adapt how they dealt with her from the knowledge that I had and from what Sophie was telling them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just kind of had a one-size-fits-all treatment plan, really. They treated everybody the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Sophie enjoyed the theatre and cooking(Image: Leisa Towle)<\/p>\n

It was recently reported that Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust reduced its spending on bank and agency staff \u2013 supply staff \u2013 by 34% in 2025\/2026.<\/p>\n

But in the same meeting of the trust\u2019s board of directors, questions were raised about ongoing vacancies and sickness absence rates, which means that a fifth of staff are \u201cmissing\u201d at any one time.<\/p>\n

A number of employees who gave evidence at Sophie\u2019s inquest, and cared for her while she was in hospital, were serving their notice period and preparing to leave the trust at the time of Sophie\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

‘Sophie dreaded evenings and weekends’<\/p>\n

The trust has said that it recognises the importance of permanent staff and understands the knock-on effect of high turnover on levels of absence and the trust\u2019s reputation as a place to work or receive care.<\/p>\n

Leisa reiterates that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cSophie dreaded evenings and weekends because there\u2019d often be staff on that she didn\u2019t know and they didn\u2019t know her,\u201d says Leisa. \u201cThe reliance on bank and agency staff was a problem. Her friends felt the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen there were staff on that didn\u2019t know them, it just sent the whole ward off, because (the staff) just didn\u2019t know what their issues were and how to deal with them, and so it just makes it really, really hard to feel safe, really. It just seemed to be very disjointed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Doncaster, we saw the same staff over and over again. We felt like we were getting to know them, and I felt like I could trust them. Often, her one-to-ones were conducted by her named nurse. At Sherwood Oaks, we didn\u2019t even know who her named nurse was.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are \u201creally good people\u201d in mental health care, asserts Leisa \u2013 but not enough of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working with people who I do know are really trying hard to make positive changes, but a lot of these people are hidden away behind doors in their offices, in their own little bubbles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to be on the ward, witnessing what happens, in the thick of it, to show that they\u2019re supporting the staff and they\u2019re willing to do what they\u2019re trying to implement as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does the NHS trust say?<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Healthcare said: \u201cWe recognise the important role personalised care planning, therapeutic relationships, individual risk assessments and safety plans all have in contributing to safe, compassionate care, and they are fundamental to all our improvement work.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherapeutic observations are prescribed as part of someone\u2019s care plan depending on their individual needs and all care plans and risk assessments are audited on a weekly basis and any concerns are escalated and addressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have got better at listening to families and involving them in decisions about their loved one\u2019s care, and this continues to be a priority area for improvement. Families provide valuable insight and we welcome all feedback as the experiences of people who use our services are a vital factor in us driving improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, Nottinghamshire Live and the Nottingham Post are highlighting issues with mental health care in the county and calling on those in charge to take action<\/a>. If you want to share a story of someone you love with mental health issues who has been failed with us, email sam.dimmer@reachplc.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sophie Towle’s mum says there are \u201creally good people\u201d in mental health care, but not enough of them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[526,97,680,253180,259,260,1624,27051,90453],"class_list":{"0":"post-575794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-education","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-mansfield","11":"tag-mapperley","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mentalhealth","14":"tag-nhs","15":"tag-nottinghamshire","16":"tag-sherwood"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}