Family handoutThe family of a man who died after he repeatedly banged his head against a wall in a mental health suite said there was no “safety net” for people with their son’s needs. Declan Morrison, 26, from Cambridge, was autistic, had severe learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.In the hours before his death, he was left naked in a room with CCTV cameras, but his family said the alarm was only raised after he was found unresponsive by staff.His parents, Graeme and Sam Morrison, are now calling for answers about what went wrong with their son’s care.Mrs Morrison said: “He was left to his own devices in a surrounding that he couldn’t understand, with no stimuli, bright lights and bare walls.”In March 2022, Declan spent 10 days in the Section 136 mental health assessment suite, as there were no beds available across the UK. But he could not cope with the austere, clinical environment which, under the Mental Health Act, should be used for a maximum of 24 hours.The suite was described by coroner Simon Milburn as “wholly inappropriate” for Declan’s needs.Steve Hubbard/BBCMr Morrison believed the decision to rely on CCTV and not interact with Declan might have “exacerbated the situation”. The coroner said staff in the facility had not been appropriately trained to care for patients with learning disabilities.Mrs Morrison said she only found out something was wrong with Declan on 18 March 2022 when he was in the ambulance. “To find out actually your son now needs a brain operation to live – it was horrifying,” she said.Declan underwent emergency surgery but never recovered. He died on 2 April 2022.Family handoutFrom 2014 to 2021, Declan lived in Sunndach House near Peterborough, run by Kisimul, a company owned by a Luxembourg-based investment fund. In 2019, following a review of Declan’s needs, it was concluded the facility could no longer provide the appropriate level of care to protect him. Yet in 2021 Declan was still living in Sunndach House. Declan’s family said his behaviour had worsened after some of his carers left to work at a nearby Amazon warehouse for an extra 50p an hour.”Something as simple as 50p is making a difference, and it’s affecting our children,” Mrs Morrison said.At the same time Declan was struggling to understand the loss of familiar carers, his family said his medication was also changed.In evidence given …
