My beautiful,Bethany, forever 21, a very bright autistic young girl, massively failed by the mental health system, who passed away on 12th January 2024 after many failed attempts.

 Beth was mainly on PUCU units for 3 years with no discharge. She lost her independence, her hope and her life in the very place where she should have been safe and receiving care, compassion and therapy.

 The reason for her stay for 3 years, was medication! This had no positive effect. Beth’s days were lonely and the only time that she left her room was for planned leave with her family. Beth was deskilled and could not cook her own food, make a hot chocolate, get a job, learn to drive. 

PICU units are meant to be short term for a maximum of 6 weeks, yet Beth spent 3 years in them. She wasn’t receiving therapy, OT, frequent time with regular staff and she worsened. 
She was harming herself more than ever, in an environment that was not suitable for her. 
Nobody listened and nobody helped her to manage on the outside, until she admitted she felt scared to leave and felt institutionalised. 

These environments, especially PICU units, were not the right place for someone who is Autistic. Beth was also on male corridors, though she was living with male trauma and it made her worse.

Beth would be triggered as she had noise and light sensitivity and she would go into fight or flight. This led to regular restraints and given sedation. 
Beth was left in her room for 3 years, with no exercise. She doubled in weight and her outlook never changed as she had no therapy and no therapeutic activities, in an environment that caused  more trauma and physical, emotional and psychological harm. Her inpatient stay was not purposeful.
This is not how Autistic people should be treated. 
Beths needs were not been met. 

In memory of my beautiful Betsy Boo, I’m proposing a law that will make a huge difference to a lot of Autistic young people and adults that not only remain detained under the mental health act but to those who are also at risk of being hospitalised.

I want to make sure that no family has to go through what we have experienced.

 The Government must enact ‘Beth’s Law’ - a new law to protect vulnerable people from experiencing what happened to Beth.

Beths Law needs to include the following:

-Autistic young people up to 25 to be treated as CAMHS inpatients, where ever possible, as it is more proactive, with therapy happening. 
Many of those who are Autistic are delayed and their emotional age should be considered alongside their chronological age. 

-A mandate for preventative action for those who self strangulate within inpatient settings, which is proactive. It takes less than 5 minutes without oxygen to lose a life. This ‘risk’ is not acceptable and is not manageable as staff can not be around every 4 minutes.
A policy to prevent and manage the risk of self strangulation by ligature to prevent future deaths in mental health hospitals. 

-Specialist Autism Independent Mental Health Advocates. After contacting a few Autism charities, this is something that is not in practice. 
Beth had an IMHA, but Beth couldn’t talk to her and she was representing Beth in meetings. It is vital that communication for Autistic patients is prioritised,  with specialist Autism  advocates. 

-Mandate for the reasoning for repeated restraints of Autistic patients.Beth’s stay in hospital was restrictive in every way. 
Intervention needs to be proactive, not reactive. 

-Mandate that PICU units are not suitable for long term use for Autistic patients and that wards/corridors are not of mixed sex, especially those with specific gender trauma. Beth couldn’t have therapy on PICU units as they are meant to be short term use. This was a missed opportunity for Beth, who spent 3 years in there, to receive therapeutic intervention and specialist counselling therapy. 

I believe if my proposals were already in place, my daughter would still be alive.