• THE account of Patrick Gladstone’s death from a heart condition at the age of 47 was a sad reminder of an all-too-familiar pattern of early death for people with a history of serious mental health issues (Hospital staff missed chances to save patient, February 17).

Side effects from drugs used in treating Patrick (whom I remember as a little boy the same age as my son Stuart), and inadequate hospital care in his last days were found to have contributed to Patrick’s death.

During the three months after Patrick’s death in October, three long-standing Stuart Low Trust participants also died unexpectedly of heart conditions in their 40s or 50s, although I haven’t seen any reports of inquests in those cases. Somehow the search for drugs that help with symptoms without having serious side effects, and support for coping with all the issues, including social exclusion, racism and disability, and other disadvantages that can push people in the direction of mental ill health never seem enough.

People diagnosed with mental health issues can still be made to feel unwanted, shading into specific hostility. No wonder people with issues don’t usually feel free to talk about them. And yet without people knowing that the lovely person they meet at an event has serious difficulties in managing mainstream life, how are the prejudices going to be dispelled and the research and help made available?

For more than 18 years The Stuart Low Trust has been bringing people together to benefit from mutual support and to enjoy activities together, whether or not they have difficulties. By now many hundreds of people have contributed and taken part. These early deaths are a reminder that so much more still needs to be done.

VIRGINIA LOW
Queen’s Head Street, N1