THE family of a man who took his own life after “missed opportunities” by an NHS trust to give him the support he needed have urged for improvements to be made to mental health services.

Martin Burnett, 40, died in November 2015 after struggling for four years to come to terms with the death of his wife Delith from an epileptic fit.

Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust admitted to failings in Mr Burnett’s care after he was referred for mental health support in July 2015 as he was suffering from sleep problems and a low mood.

After his death, his parents Agnes and Roy took legal action to find out if more could have been done to help him after he was referred to the Adult Mental Health Services First Response Team.

The trust asked him to opt in to therapy but he was then discharged a month later.

Mr Burnett then attended his GP in September 2015 requesting support and his doctor contacted the first response team. A therapist got in touch via telephone and Mr Burnett reported a low mood, panic attacks and range of other issues. While a referral was made to the Primary Care Mental Health Team it was refused as he was not considered suitable.

Mr Burnett and his family continued to seek support and following another telephone assessment in September he was referred for group counselling but was discharged on November 17 as he had not opted into the service.

Five days later, Mr Burnett was found dead at home by his parents.

Mr Burnett’s family is now calling for lessons to be learnt from his death.

His mother Agnes, 63, from Clayton, who cares for Martin’s two children Mackenzie, 15, and Darcie, 11, with her husband Roy, said: “It is nearly three years since Martin died and the whole family remains completely and utterly devastated by his loss.

“While nothing will bring him back, we hope that his story will lead to improvements in care.”

A consultant psychiatrist who examined the case for Irwin Mitchell concluded that had Martin been referred for a face-to-face review he would have received immediate help.

Irwin Mitchell lawyer Lauren Bullock said: “This is an unbearably tragic story where a family has had to endure a devastating sequence of events.

“While they sought advice and support from the local NHS Trust, there were ultimately a series of missed opportunities to intervene. Had Martin been given the right support there might have been a very different outcome.”

A spokesperson for Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust said: “We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family following this tragic incident. “Following the sad death of Martin, we undertook a thorough investigation to identify learning from this incident and we have made improvements to the service involved.’