Sidi Bojang

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for 
Women’s Health and Mental Health 

39 Victoria Street 
London 
SW1H 0EU 

17 December 2025 

Mr Andrew Walker 
Barnet Coroner’s Court 
29 Wood Street 
High Barnet 
EN5 4BE 

Dear Mr Walker,  

Thank you for the Regulation 28 report of 1 August 2025 sent to the Department of Health and Social 
Care about the death of Sidi Chaz Bojang. I am replying as the Minister with responsibility for mental 
health and I am grateful for the additional time you have allowed for me to do so. 

Firstly, I would like to say how saddened I was to read of the circumstances of Sidi’s death and I offer 
my sincere condolences to his family and loved ones. The circumstances your report describes are 
very concerning and I am grateful to you for bringing these matters to my attention.  

Your report raises concerns that if a psychiatrist had reviewed the patient presenting before discharge, 
Sidi’s death may have been prevented, and such action may reduce the risk of death for other people 
in a similar position. It also raises concerns about the arrangements for a patient’s discharge under 
such circumstances. 

In  preparing  this  response,  my  officials  have  made  enquiries  with  NHS  England  to  ensure  we 
adequately address your concerns. 

I would like to assure you that NHS England has strengthened the presence of mental health expertise 
within urgent and emergency care ensuring that all Type 1 Emergency Departments now have access 
to  24/7  mental  health  liaison  services.  These  teams  are  working  towards  Core  24  or  equivalent 
standards which require consultant led assessments and a timely response to individuals presenting 
with mental health needs in an Emergency Department. 

NHS England is continuing to work with regional teams to reinforce the expectation that all patients 
presenting with self-harm or suicidal ideation receive a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment 
before  discharge  ensuring  safe  and  appropriate  follow-up.  Alongside  this  NHS  England  is  further 
strengthening the urgent and emergency care mental health pathway by rolling out up to 85 Mental 
Health Emergency Departments as therapeutic alternatives and by working closely with systems to 
improve patient flow and reduce long waits for mental health assessments and admissions. 

The Department is committed to reducing suicide rates and addressing the risk factors contributing to 
suicide, as well as improving support for those who have self-harmed or are bereaved by suicide. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                                                           
 
 
  
  
 
 
 
 
 
 The  Suicide  Prevention Strategy  for  England,  published  in  2023,  identifies  middle  aged  men  as a 
priority group for targeted and tailored support at a national level. The strategy also identifies key risk 
factors for suicide, providing an opportunity for effective early intervention.  One of the key visions of 
the strategy to reduce the stigma surrounding suicide and mental health, so people feel able to seek 
help through the routes that work best for them. This includes raising awareness that no suicide is 
inevitable.  

In  April  of  this  year,  NHS  England  published  the  Staying  Safe  from  Suicide  guidance,  which 
strengthens the approach to suicide prevention across mental health settings. It promotes a holistic, 
person-centered approach rather than using stratification tools to determine risk. 

This  guidance  directly  aligns  with  the  aims  of  our  Suicide  Prevention  Strategy  and  reflects  our 
commitment to continually improve mental health services, particularly by identifying risk assessment 
as an area where we must go further. The implementation of this guidance has been supported by a 
new NHS England e-learning module, which launched in September, to help ensure that staff across 
services are confident and equipped to apply the guidance in practice. And the NHS Medium Term 
Planning  Framework  published  last  month  states  that  in  2026  to  2027,  ICBs  must  ensure  mental 
health  practitioners  across  all  providers  undertake  this  e-learning  and  deliver  care  in  line  with  the 
Staying safe from suicide guidance.  

In  recent  years,  there  have  been  many  actions  to  prevent  suicides  in  high-frequency  locations 
including on the railways.  To support local areas to tackle suicides in high frequency locations and 
public  spaces,  Public  Health  England  (now  the  Office  for  Health  Improvement  and  Disparities) 
developed  resources  such  as  Preventing  suicides  in  public  places:  a  practice  resource,  which 
provides local areas with a step-by-step guide to identifying locations and taking action.  

The British Transport Police Harm Reduction Team (HaRT) is working in partnership with Network 
Rail,  mental  health  trusts  and  other  key  partners  to  provide  support  to  individuals  that  present  on 
railways multiple times. A pilot project has found that, following this support, people were significantly 
less likely to be present in the railway environment 

You  may  also  be 
the Suicide  Prevention 
Support Pathfinders programme for middle-aged men. This program will invest up to £3.6 million over 
3 years in areas of England where middle-aged men are at most risk taking their own lives and will 
tackle the barriers that they face in seeking support.  

that  we have announced 

interested 

to  hear 

Furthermore,  on  19  November,  to  coincide  with  International  Men’s  Health  Day,  we  published the 
Men’s  Health  Strategy.  The  Strategy  includes  tangible  actions  to  improve  access  to  healthcare, 
provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working 
conditions, foster strong social, community and family networks and address societal norms. It also 
considers  how  to  prevent  and  tackle  the  biggest  health  problems  affecting  men  of  all  ages,  which 
include mental health and suicide, respiratory illness, prostate cancer, and heart disease.  

I hope this response is helpful. Thank you for bringing these concerns to my attention.   

All good wishes,