A schoolgirl who took her own life told a GP she had self-harmed more than a year before her death – and another crucial warning sign may have been missed.

Charley-Ann Patterson wasn’t referred to mental health support in part because she described her her mood as ‘10 out of 10’ to a doctor despite the troubling behaviour.

The 12-year-old was found dead at her home in Cramlington, Northumberland, on October 1, 2020.

Her family has previously said she was the victim of online bullying and that she had struggled to get mental health support in the last few months of her life.

They believe her condition deteriorated during lockdown because of online abuse she received while studying from home.

An inquest which will shed light on the circumstances around her death heard she was taken to see a GP in June 2019, where she admitted she had self-harmed after an argument with a friend.

It was also revealed a red flag recorded in notes by another doctor suggesting suicidal thoughts had not been seen by the doctor because it wasn’t accessible on a computer system used by the surgery.

Dr Hannah Hamilton, who at the time worked at Collingwood Health Group in North Shields, said this had been ‘the first self-harm episode known to the family’ and there had been ‘no further self-harm since’.

She continued: ‘I asked her to rate her mood from one to 10, with 10 being very happy in herself.

‘She told me it was 10 out of 10 at home and school, on that day she said it had been eight out of 10, purely because she hadn’t been waiting to come to the doctor’s surgery.

‘I asked about the episode of self-harm and she said it was in response to an argument with a friend at school.’

It was agreed with Charley-Ann and her mum, the doctor said, that they would book a follow-up appointment if there were any further concerns. 

But the schoolgirl’s answers masked a far more serious problem and she die would sixteen months later having never seen a mental health specialist.

Dr Hamilton admitted that ‘on reflection, because of subsequent events, I would have liked to have actively booked the appointment myself’.

She added: ‘I had taken the consultation as being an individual episode of self-harm that was reactive to an argument with a friend, with no ongoing low mood or repeated self-harm at that time.

‘Of course I appreciate with hindsight and seeing subsequent events that clearly, whether it be at that time or subsequently, there was certainly low mood and repeated self-harm.’

Notes compiled at the schoolgirl’s previous medical practice, Cramlington Medical Group, included records from the school nursing service in January 2018 saying Charley had ‘thought about jumping off high things’.

But because of a lack of overlap in the electronic administrative systems used by the different practices, her new GP never saw that deeply worrying note.

She said: ‘We would be reliant on healthcare professionals and school nurses flagging up any concerns.’

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Asked whether her assessment would have changed if she had been aware of previous suicidal ideation, Dr Hamilton said: ‘It’s very hard to say, given this was over a year prior to me seeing her.’

Issues around the mental health of children have been put in the spotlight after the damning conclusion reached in the Molly Russel inquest.

The 14-year-old from London took her own life after being exposed to material on social media platforms that was ‘not safe’ and contributed to her death.

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