Bereaved families angered by Tory MP’s second job at troubled NHS trust

Sheila Preston, whose son Leo Jacobs died of a drug overdose in 2016 after visits by an NSFT mental health nurse suddenly stopped, is a public governor at the trust and one of Poulter’s Suffolk constituents.

Ellie Woolnough, 27, from Kesgrave, which sits in Poulter’s constituency, took her own life in July 2022 after what a coroner said were missed opportunities, failed interactions, and “nonexistent safety planning” by NSFT.

In an email, her parents, Lisa and James, asked: “What guarantees and assurances can he [Poulter] offer his constituents that he can support them without prejudice when faced with issues concerning NSFT?”

Chris Edward’s daughter Rachel, from Stradbroke, which is also in Poulter’s Suffolk constituency, took a fatal overdose of prescription drugs in 2017 after she was discharged from NSFT’s hospital care earlier than her family wanted.

Pallavi Devulapalli, a GP in Norfolk who is the Green party spokesperson on health and has repeatedly raised complaints about the trust, said: “I am very concerned to hear that a sitting MP is an employee of NSFT.

A clinician at the trust who wished to remain anonymous said: “A serving MP cannot readily work for the very organisation he monitors without an uncomfortable question regarding impartiality.”