People with severe mental health problems are being left without proper assistance as community services are not able to give them the help and support they need, it has been warned.

Questions have been raised about the availability of mental health services after it emerged that Borth resident David Kenneth Fleet, who has been admitted to a secure mental health unit after he admitted stabbing a man to death on the grounds of diminished responsibility, had sought help and sought in-patient care.

That has prompted patient Ruth Laurie-Hopper to say she didn’t feel that community-based services were capable of providing the care needed for seriously ill people and warning that there is not adequate funding or enough staff.

She said: “The recent stabbing incident in Borth did not surprise me. It follows my own experience in the past when I was dangerously ill with negative ideation.

“A concerned friend submitted complaints to the ombudsman as a result of mental health services behaviour. I have had to submit complaints and on occasion a POVA safeguarding complaint on one of the nurses. This is not just a local issue, it is a national mental health services failure.

“Dangerously mentally ill people who have suicide or murder ideation are being discharged into a community care which cannot cope with complex mental illness.

“The staff do not have the resources or experience to cope with extremely unwell people."

Hywel Dda Health Board has said it is currently drawing up plans that would see a shake-up of mental health services, but said it could not comment on individual cases.

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