Suicidal student not seen by health workers for over a month

A university student who had tried to kill herself three times had to wait more than a month between mental health worker visits, an inquest has heard.

Natasha Abrahart, 20, who was studying physics at the University of Bristol, died on 30 April last year.

The hearing heard a Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP) crisis team visited her on 22 March.

But she was not seen again until four days before her death, partly due to a member of staff being on holiday.

Avon Coroners' Court heard she had tried to kill herself the day before the March visit - her third attempt since 19 February.

Crisis team worker Toby Gray said Ms Abrahart found it difficult to communicate, only gave him "yes" or "no" answers during the meeting, and he assessed her as medium risk.

The inquest heard the delay was partly because there was only one person in the trust whose job was to allocate cases, and he was on holiday for two weeks.

Ms Abrahart's case was not allocated to another worker until his return.

In the past three years, 12 University of Bristol students have died.

Eight of the deaths were recorded as suicide, two inquests - including Ms Abrahart's - are still to take place or be determined and two inquests returned narrative verdicts.

The inquest continues.

For help and support on mental health visit the BBC Advice pages.