Robyn Skilton Wiki
Robyn Skilton Biography
Who was Robyn Skilton?
An NHS Trust today admitted fault in the tragic case of a 14-year-old schoolgirl who took her own life a month after being released from a children’s mental health programme.
Robyn Skilton began self-harming and sulking after entering high school, worried that ‘no one would like her’. The teenager’s parents, Alan and Victoria, sought help from Suss*x Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services [CAMHS].
But in the two and a half years that followed, Robyn, from Horsham in West Suss*x, received no proper assessment or treatment despite her plummeting mental health, she heard at her inquest today.
Despite being admitted to hospital for self-harm and suicide attempts, the software company’s director, Skilton, heartbroken, said he was “astonished” by the lack of support she received.
Causes of Death
The inquest heard that Robyn had told her parents that she had threatened to jump off a bridge to her death.
With tears in his eyes, Skilton, who said he and his wife “did everything they could to help” their daughter, said CAMHS did not intervene and accused the NHS of following a “checkbox exercise” to get her hospital discharge.
At one point, the teen even threatened to jump off a bridge, but her parents’ fears were dismissed, the investigation heard.
Today at West Suss*x Coroner’s Court in Chichester, Mr Skilton said: “We know we can’t bring her back, but we believe that if she had received treatment she would be here with us.”
Robyn was released from CAMHS on April 9, 2021, “but she hadn’t really been supportive at all.”
Less than a month later, on May 7, Robyn was found hanged in Horsham’s Southwater Country Park after going missing from the £670,000 family home.
She regularly self-harmed and expressed suicidal thoughts, and even told her parents that “no one could help her,” the investigation reported.
Solicitor Rebecca Agnew, from the Suss*x Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, told Robyn’s family today: ‘The Trust seeks to formally acknowledge the failures in Robyn’s care and the impact on her family.
‘CAMHS did not assess Robyn properly, resulting in missed opportunities for her needs.
“The Trust is aware that it did not contact Robyn directly and did not contact the family directly.
‘The Trust extends a formal apology to her parents for these failures.
“The Trust failed to adequately assess Robyn or provide her with the care and support she needed and this contributed more than minimally, trivially or negligently to Robyn’s death.”
Skilton told the hearing, “We believe that if Robyn had been seen properly earlier … her mental health would have improved and she would not have committed suicide.”
Family
Robyn’s father said that her daughter was “outgoing, sociable and she made friends easily”, and that she enjoyed swimming, singing and dancing.
Skilton said Robyn’s problems started after she moved to the Mallais School for Girls in Horsham in 2017.
He said: ‘Her friendship group of hers had changed… She was struggling to bond with others.
“We started noticing problems with her mood, she started feeling sad and self-harming and didn’t know why she was doing it.
‘She thought no one loved her.’
The West Suss*x Coroner’s Court, sitting in Chichester, pictured, heard that after changing schools, Robyn’s family noted “problems with her mood”. Her father said: ‘She thought nobody loved her’
Mr. Skilton said that she contacted CAMHS but “we never imagined that it would be two and a half years and Robyn would take her own life without anyone intervening.”
Skilton Health Condition
Skilton said it was “shocking” that CAMHS didn’t talk to him and his wife after they once took Robyn to the hospital when they believed she would take her own life.
He said, “We wonder why [CAMHS believes] that a child who wanted to kill himself has the ability to complete a self-questionnaire.”
By Christmas 2020, her parents were “extremely worried” about her state of mind and Robyn “said no one could help her.”
“She knew that what she was doing was dangerous,” Skilton said. He said that she couldn’t see a future.
Mr. and Mrs. Skilton hid sharp objects, but Robyn found them and continued to harm herself.
In early 2021 it became known that she was admitted to the hospital. She attempted to overdose on acetaminophen and stayed three nights, however, Skilton was shocked at the lack of treatment for her.
He said: ‘We were surprised that after she tried to take her own life, she left hospital with less support.
“No one seemed to take her mental health seriously.”
Robyn ‘clearly got worse’ in 2021, however on April 9, CAMHS released her.
Mr Skilton said: ‘CAMHS sent him a letter from her to release him from her, but they hadn’t really given him any support.
“In the last weeks of her life, she was verbally abusive and self-harming on a regular basis.
“It is deeply painful to learn that Robyn told professionals at the hospital that she was hearing voices… We do not understand why this was not shared with us.”
Charged
Robyn’s parents became ‘despaired’ and sought private care through the Priory, which would charge £1,300 a night.
“We told CAMHS that we don’t think we can keep her safe and asked if she could be sectioned,” Mr. Skilton said.
Mr Skilton added: “To our surprise her mood completely changed, he said he was sorry how she had been.”
“Because she got engaged to us that night, she gave us false hope…and we didn’t get professional help, but she wishes we did.”
She was heard that she was admitted to the hospital four times.
“The hospital seemed to be going through a tick-box exercise in trying to get him discharged,” said Mr. Skilton.
“Even when she threatened to jump off a bridge, our calls for help were dismissed.”
Suss*x Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services [CAMHS] initially refused a referral for Robyn to her programme, the tragic teen’s GP told her inquest today.
Dr. Matthew Davies, of Riverside Medical Center in Horsham, said CAMHS turned down her referral because “they weren’t sure” if her condition was “moderate or severe.”
The 14-year-old boy was eventually admitted to the CAMHS program, but was released a month before he was found dead.
Dr. Davies said that Robyn and her parents first visited him in 2018.
He said he referred her to Youth Emotional Support [YES], a West Suss*x County Council service that provides free wellness support to young people aged 11-18.
However, the family argues that they understood they were looking for a CAMHS referral.
There was confusion as to whether Robyn was going to receive YES support at school, it was also heard.
Cases are referred to CAMHS when they are serious, the investigation heard. YES receives 2,500 referrals each year and two percent goes to CAMHS.
Group therapy was not considered suitable for Robyn, the inquest heard.
The two-day investigation continues.
