Dad 'who lived for his kids' was not known to mental health services before his death
PLUS: What happens if people in Preston reject plans to rebuild hospital out of the city's limits?
Hello and welcome to edition #84 of The Lancashire Lead.
Today we report on a tragedy from September 2024 after a father was confirmed to have taken his own life.
It’s a potentially distressing tale but important as an example of a man who was surrounded by loved ones, family and kids, but had been suffering with his mental health.
Despite this, he never accessed services available to him with one person present at the inquest saying that he could see his emotions as ‘weakness’.
The Lancashire Lead attended Ben Young’s inquest and we think it’s important that his story is told.
Don’t suffer in silence. If you’re struggling with your mental health, you are not alone and there is a range of free-to-access services ready and waiting to help you.
You can contact Samaritans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year online, by email jo@samaritans.org or phone 116 123
You can call the CALM on 0800 58 58 58 (5pm–midnight every day) if you're affected by suicide or suicidal thoughts or use its webchat service
If you would prefer not to talk but want some mental health support, text SHOUT to 85258 for a confidential 24/7 text service providing crisis support
If you're under 35 and struggling with suicidal feelings, or concerned about a young person who might be struggling, you can call Papyrus HOPELINEUK on 0800 068 4141 (24 hours, 7 days a week), email pat@papyrus-uk.org or text 07786 209 697
More information and support is available from the MIND mental health charity and from the NHS.
And we’ll also examine the decision to hold elections for Lancashire County Council in 2025, the cost of those elections, and why they’re being held in the first place despite the fact the council likely won’t exist other than in the short term.
“He would do anything for anyone and was a jack of all trades.”
By Jamie Lopez
A much loved dad-of-three and avid rugby player died by suicide, an inquest concluded.
Preston Coroner’s Court heard that Ben Young, who lived in Walton-le-Dale, had no involvement with mental health services before taking his own life and had largely appeared to be in good spirits in the days before.
The Wigan Warriors fan was a player at Preston Grasshoppers RFC as well as working as a security guard and was a popular figure within his friendship circle and the wider Preston community.
Tragically, he was found dead at his home in September to the shock and devastation of his loved ones.
As area coroner Kate Bisset opened the inquest into his death, she asked his gathered family members what kind of person he was and received responses which described him as a popular, well liked man with lots of friends.
Summing up evidence from Ben’s ex-partner Becky Schollick, with whom he had two children, she explained that Ben had rarely been ill in the near-two decades they had known each other but suffered from pains in his stomach and chest earlier in the year.
This led to hospital stints and medication changes along with plans for an operation to remove his gallbladder.
The last time she saw him was days before his death and a week after he’d spent time in hospital. They had spent time together watching their son play rugby match, something Ben had always loved to do.
Becky explained that he had seemed in good spirits and was laughing and joking, but seemed preoccupied and was on his phone sending voice notes and messaged frequently which was unusual for him during such matches.
After the match, he arranged to pick his son up from training a couple of days later, leaving with his usual “love you, bye, see you later” message.
While she was aware Ben had had relationship problems with his most recent partner Lyndsay Bell, and had recently asked her to leave their home, he did not discuss any major problems or concerns in that final meeting. In her statement, Ms Schollick explained: “He always knew he could talk to me about anything. Ben had a lot of close friends who he could confide in.”
In Lyndsey’s statement, which was also summarised by Ms Bisset, she said: “He was generally a happy man. He had his many problems but he always seemed like he had it under control.
“He lived for his kids. He would do anything to make them happy. He would do anything for anyone and was a jack of all trades.”
But, she explained, she felt he saw showing his emotions as a “weakness” and a contradiction to his “Big Ben” nickname. The couple, who shared one child, split up on September 26, with Ben asking her to leave their home.
She returned four days later, in part to collect some items and in part to check in on him having received a concerning message a day earlier and noticing the Ring doorbell hadn’t shown him leaving for work that day. It was then that Ben was found dead.
The inquest heard that it was not the first time such a message had been sent by Ben and, as such, Ms Bisset said she sympathised both with Ms Bell not treating it more seriously and with other family members questioning why there wasn’t a more urgent response.
Attending in person, Detective Constable Christian Minorczyk explained that inquiries were carried out as with any other sudden or unexplained death and that police were able to rule out any signs of third party involvement.
Delivering a conclusion of suicide, Ms Bisset noted “he was not a man known to mental health services” and had a large circle of friends and family.
In the days after his death, Grasshoppers held a minute’s silence ahead of kick off and discussed the importance of reaching out for help when struggling with mental health.
Dan Orwin, coach at Preston Grasshoppers, one of the club’s coaches said: “Unfortunately, there is still a stigma associated with mental health, particularly with young men. It is OK not to be OK, and we need to keep spreading that message.
“We are currently in touch with Looseheadz, a rugby organisation focused on encouraging players to reach out and tackle the stigma, and we are in the process of putting a Mental Health Lead in place.”
A spokesperson for Barbican Security, where Ben had worked, said: “It’s with a heavy heart that we as a company have lost one of the OG’s.
“Ben Young, you were a massive part of this company and we all can’t believe that you have gone. You were a brother, comrade, friend and a warrior. You were loved by so many and you had a heart of gold.
“You were one of the good guys and will be missed by so many. Rest easy big fella. The man, the myth, the legend.”
What if hospital plans for central Lancashire are rejected?
By Paul Faulkner
A Lancashire NHS leader has admitted he does not know what the response would be from the health service if the people of Preston said they did not want the city’s hospital to be rebuilt in South Ribble.
The “preferred option” for a new Royal Preston was revealed last month as a site off Stanifield Lane in Farington, close to the junction of the M65 and M6.
A public engagement exercise is set to begin before the end of January to get people’s thoughts on the proposed plot for the new state-of-the-art facility – which is eight miles away from the Royal Preston’s current home in Fulwood.
A formal public consultation would have to follow at a later date before any decision could be taken to go-ahead with the plans, which would see the new-build completed around a decade from now.
However, one Preston councillor has quizzed NHS chiefs on what would happen if residents rejected the idea – while another has demanded NHS chiefs stop referring to the proposed new unit as the “Royal Preston”, because it would be based beyond the city’s borders.
Zafar Coupland, Preston City Council’s cabinet member for health wellbeing, told a recent meeting of Lancashire County Council’s health scrutiny committee that people with poor health want “easily accessible [facilities]”.
“They don’t want to travel too far out of town to get [there because], economically, they’re disadvantaged.
“[So] once you’ve had all the consultation…if the population comes back and says, ‘Sorry, we want [the] status quo and we don’t want anything moving’, is this exercise going to be…meaningful?
“If Preston has said, ‘No, we don’t want that hospital moving’, is it going to stay?” Cllr Coupland asked directly.
Steve Canty, medical lead for the Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme (NHP), said he “probably couldn’t answer” what he described as “a very difficult question”.
“The main reason that [both Preston and Lancaster] have been part of the New Hospitals Programme is the challenge of the current hospitals – and the cost of continuing to maintain [them] is something that is a significant challenge,” the consultant orthopaedic surgeon explained.
The maintenance backlog at the Royal Preston’s Sharoe Green Lane site – which is approaching 50 years of age – was estimated in 2021 to be £157m.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Mein, Preston South East division representative on the county council, took issue with two aspects of the terminology being used to describe the planned new hospital and its proposed site.
“You call [the Preston and Lancaster sites] ‘preferred locations’ – [but] who prefers those locations? Because I can absolutely guarantee that [for] residents in Preston who currently attend the Royal…that’s not a preferred location for them,” County Cllr Mein said.
She also told New Hospitals Programme system lead Andrew Bennett: “You’re calling it ‘the new Preston hospital’, [but] the preferred site is not in Preston – so don’t call it a new Preston hospital, because it won’t be.”
Mr. Bennett said the new facility would be “a replacement” for the current Royal – but acknowledged that how the new service was described would “matter to people”.
Addressing fears about difficulty accessing the potential site – close to where an IKEA store was once proposed to be built – Mr. Bennett said: “It’s really clear that various members of the community will have legitimate concerns about such a geographical shift and what that means for issues like travel and transport.
“But, simply, we have tried to identify a location that could deliver the footprint of a modern hospital and then we could build the infrastructure…the communications and the travel and transport around it.”
However, he stressed that the NHS was still open to considering other locations and putting them through the same assessment process as the dozen previously considered for a new Royal Preston. As the Lancashire Lead revealed last month, an “exit strategy” is in place if a more suitable site than the purchased land is found – or if the outcome of a government review into the nationwide New Hospitals Programme means the funding needed for the development is not ultimately delivered.
Jane Kenny, lead nurse for the Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme, said the forthcoming engagement process was “an opportunity for [hospital] users, members of the public and our own staff to really voice their concerns about the potential new sites”.
However, she told the committee that “a huge amount of work” had already been done to “understand the impact” of the preferred location, including on “more vulnerable communities”.
❄️ Councillor hits out over ‘lack of gritting’ accusations in Blackburn (Lancashire Telegraph)
👨👩👦👦 Lizzi Collinge backs landmark legislation to save families £500 a year (Lancaster Guardian)
🏥 Significant pressure at Royal Preston Hospital with decision to declare ‘critical incident’ under constant review (Blog Preston)
🍺 Tributes to retired pub landlord Brian Sabbage, who ran Bispham's Old England for almost 20 years (Blackpool Gazette)
Thank you for reading Lancashire Lead #84.
We hope you enjoy the week ahead and we’ll be back with more exclusive news for you on Wednesday. Read on for the latest on the local elections in 2025.
Two-million cost for questionable Lancashire County Council elections
Analysis by Luke Beardsworth
Lancashire County Council has taken the decision to go ahead with elections in May - and the associated £2m cost - despite the likelihood it will not exist other than in the short-term.
The government confirmed in December that two-tier local government structures - as the majority in Lancashire are under - will be scrapped and all 15 councils in Lancashire will likely be replaced with four new authorities.
The option was there to cancel the elections on that basis - but Lancashire County Council has declined that offer and will spend the estimated £2m instead.
The council’s Conservative leader Phillippa Williamson has spoken and says that it needs to be business as usual at the authority.
She said:
“Local government reform, particularly in an area as large and diverse as Lancashire, is vastly complex and getting consensus will not be generated quickly, if at all.”
In that, she has neatly underlined why government reform is needed for Lancashire. The inability of Lancashire’s complex web of elected officials to agree on very much at all has made devolution a slow process, generally meaning that the area is slower than others to get access to funding.
Ten of the 13 Labour MPs whose areas are in Lancashire said that this is an “unacceptable obstruction” in the way of any further devolution – and threatening the financial viability of local government in Lancashire.
South Ribble MP Paul Foster asked if the public would prefer that money be spent on potholes given the direction of travel for Lancashire County Council. The answer to that one is almost certainly yes.
The voice of Lancaster and Wyre MP Cat Smith, now long serving and ever-sensible, shows that this not a neat party-divided issue. Her point has been that a one-size-fits-all approach to local government doesn’t work, and shouldn’t be mandatory to access the funding that others receive.
Putting funding behind a single-tier authority wall is a debatable approach - but it appears to be what’s happening.
Angela Rayner indicated that elections should be delayed by no more than a year - the idea being that elections could take place in 2026 for Lancashire’s three or four new councils instead.
Today that feels so ambitious as to be worthy of ridicule but not necessarily through any fault of the government.
Instead, it’s the ‘fingers-in-ears-not-listening’ approach of Lancashire County Council in going ahead with the elections - and refusing Lancashire a seat on the Council of Nations and Regions other areas will be sat at - which risks leaving us left behind once again.
‘If at all’ Williamson said when talking about a consensus, neatly highlighting the authority’s attitude to the councils in Lancashire being abolished. Maybe if we hang on until 2029 we can avoid it altogether?
A better approach would be to get on with it because government reform plans - and those three/four new councils replacing the 15 - are not in doubt. And a failure to put forward a viable plan will likely result in Lancashire being given one from elsewhere.