THE family of a 14-year-old unlawfully killed while detained in a mental health hospital are calling for urgent legislative changes to better protect children and guarantee access to family support.

Ruth Szymankiewicz died by self-inflicted means while detained under the Mental Health Act at Huntercombe Hospital, Maidenhead, in 2022.

An inquest jury in August concluded that her death was unlawful, citing restricted family contact, poor communication with her parents and insufficient therapy.

The Mental Health Bill, which reforms the current Act, is due to return to the Commons next Tuesday. The girl’s family are now urging amendments to prevent similar tragedies.

Proposed changes include ensuring parental involvement in care, strengthening children’s rights to unrestricted family contact while in hospital, safeguarding children from being put in inappropriate settings, such as adult wards or far from home, and increasing community-based support to prevent unnecessary hospitalisation.

In a joint statement, Kate and Mark Szymankiewicz said: “When Ruth was on the general paediatric ward she was able to have a parent or family member with her whenever she wanted, night or day.

“Once she was transferred to the mental health ward she was only allowed to see us for a maximum of two hours, twice a week.

“We and she asked, and were denied, repeatedly, with no justification other than it was hospital policy.

“Family-centred care needs to be at the heart of all mental health services.”

Deborah Coles, director at the charity Inquest, which investigates state-related deaths, said: “These amendments are rooted in what families have been demanding for years: stop sending children to unsafe, inappropriate places and start investing in community-based support that centres care, not detention.”

The family will seek cross-party support at a briefing at London’s Portcullis House on Monday.

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Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said: “Children living in mental health in-patient care have told me about being denied contact with family, with nothing around them resembling the comfort of home.

“They tell me that, had the right help been given earlier, their circumstances would have been so different.

“That’s why I'm pushing for urgent change to the Mental Health Act that protects parents and families’ right to remain central in their child’s care.

“Children must be supported at home wherever possible, never placed long distances from family, with visits from their loved ones whenever they want.”