The number of people to have unexpectedly died while using Thurrock’s mental health service has almost doubled in 12 months.

The shocking figures, believed to have been driven by increased suicides, was revealed in a report on the borough’s mental health and emergency care programme discussed during a Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting last Thursday.

The report stated that in 2017 the service hoped to see a 10 percent reduction in unexpected deaths from 53 the previous year.

But, rather than a decrease, the number instead worryingly jumped up to 81.

Councillor Victoria Holloway, chairman of the committee, called the challenges and underfunding of mental health services a “travesty”.

Meanwhile Mark Tebbs, director of commissioning at Thurrock CCG, admitted that so much more could be done in reaching the CCG’s aim of zero suicides.

He said: “There is an ambition to see all suicides as preventable.

“We need to be doing more on this.

“We are now looking at what other areas have done to move towards a zero-suicide ambition.

“There is a lot of stigma around this so it is not easy and there is no one agency that can make an impact.

“It is about coming together and tackling it together.”

The NHS foundation trust stated it is now rolling out suicide prevention training for all staff, and is working in partnership with Samaritans to reduce the number of suicides.

A new scheme sees patients proactively called by the charity once they have agreed with the NHS to receive this additional support.

A spokesperson for the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, which oversees the service, said: “The NHS national framework for serious incidents from 2015 defines an unexpected death serious incident as a suicide or self-inflicted death or a homicide.

“Tragically suicide still affects and takes far too many lives.

“The Trust’s suicide prevention strategy states that our aspiration as an organisation is to achieve zero suicides for those who use services.

“We are taking action to improve systems and environments to reduce the risk; including rolling out risk assessment and suicide prevention training for all staff.

“We regularly review our serious incidents and share any learning from them across the organisation; our involvement in suicide prevention work across Essex with partner organisations also provides us with an opportunity to learn from others.

“We are also working in partnership with the Samaritans to provide emotional support for all our patients who need it.

“Once our patient agrees to be contacted by the Samaritans they will proactively call the patient at a time convenient for them.

“Sometimes people experiencing emotional distress can experience feelings of isolation and low self-worth, and may not access services.

“This partnership with the Samaritans increases the likelihood that the person accesses emotional support when it is needed.”

*If you need the Samaritans the number to call is 01268 412000.