London student paramedic who took her own life was ‘begging for help’ from her NHS Trust

A student paramedic who took her own life was “begging for help” from her NHS trust, an inquest into her death has heard.

Georgia McCoy, who studied at St George’s, University of London, was found dead last December by her flatmate. She had overdosed on prescription medication.

In letters seen by the Evening Standard, Georgia wrote that her cries for help had been unanswered and that she had been “over-medicated”.

According to the inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court, two months before she died, a referral to a specialist service was missed in the email system of the South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.

Her GP had made the referral as Georgia had explained that she “strongly wanted to die” and that she had “consistent thoughts of suicide”.

Georgia also posted on Instagram about her struggles with mental health, saying: “I’m not ‘better’ yet but I’m not going to stop fighting. The system may have failed me but I’m not going to fail myself. I have survived 100 per cent of my worst days and I’m not going to change that. The world is a better place with you in it.”

In a statement to the inquest, her family said: “She would always make you laugh by telling you of the crazy antics she had been up to,”  and referred to her “fun loving personality” and “beautiful and kind soul”, saying she “loved and achieved more in 21 years than some people do in a lifetime, and it was always with a smile”.

They continued by saying how “she always put others first and hid her struggles from us all” and in the last few months of her life was “begging for help.”

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They also spoke about her love for gymnastics and how she was part of her university’s cheerleading squad.

However, her family added that “she felt they [NHS services] wanted to over-medicate her, and not listen to her concerns.”

When questioned on a decision to refer Georgia back to a GP from a specialist, an unnamed mental health health nurse said: “I don’t see this decision as unusual, because of the volume of referrals we receive with suicidal ideation. It’s a constant feature.”

However, another nurse, Wendy Mingle, criticised the treatment of Georgia’s case, saying: “With regard to longer term services, I think we could have probably done more, with regard to the referral to the community mental health team.

“Her mental illness and a lack of support she received from mental health services – they were the reasons she gave for doing what she did.

“She felt unsupported by medical services and she couldn’t go on living like that. That is a fact, she stated that.”

In a statement after the inquest, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust told the Evening Standard that it “apologises wholeheartedly for the errors which took place during Georgia’s care.

“We have conducted a thorough investigation and have put improvements in place that ensure our teams respond at pace to carers and families, and we have incorporated this into clinical team meetings.

“We have also improved our referral processes to ensure that no patient gets missed.

“We have been in touch with Georgia’s family to offer support, and our thoughts are with Georgia’s loved ones at this extremely upsetting time.”

For mental health support any time, contact Samaritans on 116 123.

Featured image via Instagram.