Determined mum Jacqui Waring overcomes ‘unutterably painful’ suicide of her son Will Ogilvy aged 28 to work with NHS Highland help improve New Craigs
WHEN Jacqui Waring’s son took his own life while a patient at New Craigs Psychiatric Hospital she felt she “had to drag some good from a devastating personal tragedy.”
Will Ogilvy had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and sectioned for his own safety, but used a little extra freedom he had been afforded to end his life in 2024.
He was just 28 years old.
Amid what Ms Waring described as an “unutterably painful” experience she started working with the Inverness hospital in a bid to avoid similar tragedies.
An official report into Mr Ogilvy’s death has made numerous recommendations for improvements in care, all of which have been accepted by the health board.
Ms Waring now campaigns for awareness and better funding for research into schizophrenia, describing her son’s suicide as “a culmination of at least five years of increasingly troubling symptoms, difficult behaviours and for me, as a mother, extreme anxiety”.
At one point prior to his hospitalisation Interpol had to assist to locate Mr Ogilvy when he disappeared to Brazil.
He then fled from the hospital where he was taken.
“The police found him locally [Inverness] on that occasion and took him into custody and up to the hospital,” she said.
“He was quite a big guy, very fit physically, and it became a recurrent theme of his detention and treatment that making him do anything he didn’t want to was an immense challenge”.
He subsequently escaped from the high security ward at New Craigs a further three times, making it as far as Edinburgh without money, phone or a bank card.
She continued: “By the time he was sectioned he was inhabiting an alternative reality and he was openly preoccupied with thoughts of ending his life.
“The Will I knew, the boy I had raised, was a kind, funny, big-hearted person. I didn’t know anything about schizophrenia.
“Our relationship was close and loving but it was also torture, for both of us, as his mental health deteriorated.
“I witnessed my lively, charismatic, ambitious young man turn into an unpredictable stranger manifesting behaviours I could not handle, never mind improve”.
After Mr Ogilvy took his own life and despite the weight of her own grief Ms Waring decided blame and revenge were not, for her, the route to take.
“The staff on the ward in which my son was a patient when he took his life were so devastated they had to have counselling themselves,” she said.
“Every individual is hurt by a suicide, or by the mental illness of someone they know, who has a family and friend circle of their own.
“Out of all of this I had to drag some good…so I screwed up my courage to the utmost and tried to work with the health board to try to do something that may prevent others experiencing our loss.”
Getting in touch with New Craigs and clinical director of mental health Dr Neil McNamara, they started working together on identifying ways in which a similar tragedy might be avoided in the future.
“Whilst I cannot deny this has been a challenging process in which to participate, it’s clear that the health board have accepted all nine recommendations for improvement we collectively made – and that I consider a substantial achievement,” she said.
To be implemented across New Craigs, the wider NHS Highland estate and within the Highland Health and Social Care Partnership the recommendations include involving families in assessment and care planning of patients; having a consistent template for patient assessments; reviewing documentation provided to patients and families to ensure there are clear channels of communication and points of contact; and ensuring necessary measures are in place to reduce the risk of absconding.
Reviews should also be carried out regarding availability of specific resources for families affected by psychosis/ schizophrenia and suicide; and evidence-based psychological interventions for people affected by psychosis across hospital and community services, bringing forward recommendations to address identified deficiencies.
Ms Waring said: “It’s a bittersweet moment for me. But I am grateful to have been enabled to make this difference”.
The health board has proposed a north of Scotland research event on Friday, October 10 this year and Ms Waring says she will be there to share her story and “advocate for further, much needed, research”.
We have been in contact with NHS Highland are content with story running without their comment but we hope to bring you their side of these events at a future date.
