Danny France: Transgender teen who died fell into service 'black hole'

A transgender teenager who took his own life two weeks into the first lockdown fell into a "black hole" of mental health services, his father said.

Danny France was being transferred from Suffolk children and adolescent mental health services to Cambridgeshire adult services when he died in April 2020.

His father said concerns remained that people "could fall into such a trap where nothing is being done for them".

The county council and mental health trust both said action was being taken.

Danny's sister Katie has previously said her brother "was an incredibly genuine, caring, and passionate person and his loss has left a huge void in our lives".

The 17-year-old grew up in Stetchworth, on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border and moved to Cambridge in November 2019 after finding "social life, college, everything" was in the city, his father Alastair France said.

Mr France said while the family had known about Danny's previous self-harming and suicide attempts his death was "so much unexpected" because they had made a plan for him to come home the following day.

Danny's inquest heard that his GP had referred him to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) for mental health care but he was still waiting on an assessment by the adult locality team when he died.

He had tried to refer himself for counselling but was denied as he was "considered too high risk", assistant coroner for Cambridgeshire Philip Barlow said in a prevention of future deaths report.

The area's First Response Service, which provides help for people experiencing a mental health crisis, also assessed Danny but he had been considered not in need of urgent intervention.

Cambridgeshire County Council had also incorrectly closed two safeguarding referrals for Danny, the coroner found.

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Mr France said at the time his son moved to Cambridge he was "in a situation where the children's mental health services really [didn't] want to take someone on who will be 18 in six months, so you're waiting for the adult mental health services".

"The adult mental health services don't want to do anything," he said, "because they can't until you're 18 - so you fall into something of a black hole.

"Danny's death was certainly preventable and I think many lessons have been learned.

"There may be more to learn and if those lessons result in just one young person not going through this, then that's got to be a good thing."

Mr France said he believed "the pandemic really has hit young people".

"Danny's death occurred really early in the lockdowns but we know so many friends of Danny's that have gone through conjuring with their own demons through the times when they've not been able to meet," Mr France said.

Commenting on the coroner's finding of "considerable delay in obtaining appointments for the gender identity clinic", Mr France said such delays were happening to people "while they're going through massive changes in their own bodies and they're in bodies they hate, which is phenomenally difficult for their mental health".

A council spokesperson said it was aware of a "responsibility to collectively learn from Danny's tragic death" with other partners and said it had "put in place actions that will improve our practice when dealing with young people in vulnerable situation".

A spokesperson for CPFT said it had made changes, adding: "We continue to work with partners to learn any additional lessons and further improve treatment pathways so that all young people can access the support they need as quickly as possible."

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