'Beautiful' woman died after being told she could not have a hospital bed

The family of a young woman who died after begging for hospital treatment say they have been 'vindicated' by a coroners conclusion.

In September 2020, 31-year-old, Rachel Shaw, from Hebburn, took her own life after being "tormented" by hallucinations during a psychotic episode.

During an inquest into her death, Newcastle senior Karen Dilks found that an assessment which decided not to offer Rachel a bed at a psychiatric hospital had been "compromised" by a number of "failures", but did not rule that as the direct direct cause of her death.

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As reported in the Chronicle Live, Rachel's father, Peter Shaw, 56, said the coroner's conclusion "vindicated" his family's concerns about the care offered to his daughter who he described as an "independent and determined".

Peter said: "As a family we have suffered nothing but torment, grief, unending pain and ultimately anger, following Rachel’s death in September 2020. From the onset we have held the very strong view that had Rachel received hospital treatment on the day of September 6 that both she and we had asked for, then she would not have died the next day."

He accused mental health trust Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW ) of "misleading" the family over the "failures" which the coroner found in Rachel's care, and called on the trust to learn from the findings and "rebuild trust". The Trust has said it undertook a serious incident investigation after Rachel's death and that the inquest process would ensure "lessons learned are taken forward".

But Peter accused them of a "complete failure to acknowledge their failings". He said: "[This] is not only an