Mental health campaigner Becki Luscombe killed herself at psychiatric unit in Sparkhill

A mental health campaigner who convinced supermarkets to withdraw offensive Halloween ‘mental patient’ costumes from their stores killed herself at a psychiatric unit, an inquest has found.

Work by Rebecca Luscombe, known as Becki, went national in 2013 when she successfully started a Twitter campaign which resulted in the outfits being taken off supermarket shelves.

“People who are in need of psychiatric admission should have the right to be treated in a local hospital”

“People who are in need of psychiatric admission should have the right to be treated in a local hospital”
A mental health service has said it is being forced to send patients almost 200 miles away for treatment because it is struggling to meet demand for beds.
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust said it operates at 100% capacity for a majority of the time.
It said beds will “always be found” in an emergency, but patients have been sent as far as Brighton and Carlisle.