Former Shrewsbury Mayor highlights lack of addiction support in Shropshire

Jane Mackenzie has accepted undisclosed damages from the then operators Shropshire Recovery Partnership for failings in the care offered to Amy Jane Liebich, who died on May 15 2019 after a long battle with alcohol addiction.

Jane said: “I just want Amy’s voice to be heard. She didn’t need to die, and there are many more people who will die because nothing has changed. Amy was powerless to stop her drinking, and she knew it was killing her. She was desperate for help, but she was not given it. In fact, local services withdrew their support, and left her to suffer.

“I run a charity now, based in Shrewsbury, and I hear time and time again from people who are suffering with alcohol addiction and nothing is changing – if anything, it is getting worse. The system isn’t fit for purpose and is failing the very people it was set up to serve.”

Amy first sought help with alcohol issues while she was a student, and repeatedly asked the Shropshire Recovery Partnership for detox programmes and appropriate treatment. Jane said her daughter needed a mental health assessment to understand the root cause of her addiction, but nothing was offered.

Jane said: “Even though Amy was seriously ill, Shropshire Recovery Partnership insisted on discharging her from their service if she missed more than one appointment. This meant she was forced to go back to square on and repeatedly refer herself back into the service, in order to try to receive any help at all.

 “It almost felt like they were setting her up to fail. People with addiction lead chaotic lives – they lose their phones, forget to charge them, have to rely on public transport.

“Some of their team had little or no experience of supporting people suffering with alcohol addiction. Amy said she could run rings around them and felt let down by their lack of expertise. She didn’t see the point of going back any more.

“It wasn’t just the lack of support. They actually prevented her from getting the help she needed because they refused to refer her to the services and experts who could have helped her.”

A spokesperson from Shropshire Recovery Partnership says: “We are sorry to learn about the experience that Amy’s family had with the previous provider of Shropshire Recovery Partnership, and how their loss continues to impact them.

“Shropshire Recovery Partnership is committed to providing care that meets the needs of individuals across Shropshire, and delivers services to more than 1,500 people who are experiencing challenges with drugs or alcohol. Anyone living across Shropshire can access our services, free of charge, by calling us on 01743 294 700 or visiting our website.

“Since we took over as lead provider for Shropshire Recovery Partnership, the service has been independently inspected by the CQC, receiving a rating of ‘Outstanding’ for care and an overall rating of ‘Good’. We are committed to further developing our services for local residents and have increased our workforce, grown our support to families, and developed our recovery services with peer support.

“We strongly encourage feedback from anyone who accesses our service so that we can work closely with our clients to make any necessary changes and improvements.”

Associate Michael Portman-Hann, from FBC Manby Bowdler Solicitors, said: “Health professionals dealing with individuals suffering with addiction need to look at the whole person, not just the erratic and destructive behaviours caused by the disease. There were lots of opportunities for the Shropshire Recovery Partnership to offer Amy more support and to refer her to mental health professionals and other programmes that could have made a difference, but they didn’t do that.”

Jane now runs Share Shrewsbury, a charity which supports anyone in the town suffering with alcohol addiction, as well as raising awareness of the risks associated with alcohol.

She said: “We need to have an honest conversation with the public about alcohol to explain how addictive and damaging it can be. More needs to be done about how it is marketed and packaged, because people just don’t realise the harm it can do.

“We were told by Shropshire Recovery Partnership practitioners that we had to allow Amy to hit rock bottom before she could be helped. Her younger sister followed that advice and cut contact with Amy, and then Amy died, and her sister is now traumatised because in the six months before her death she wasn’t there for her. She will never get that time back.

“Amy’s family, who were in the best position to understand and support her, were basically told to stay away.”

Two months before she died, Amy was briefly supported out-of-area by the Telford After Care Team (TACT), which Jane said offered much more practical help. She said: “They gave her hope. She went to Strickland House in Wellington where she was offered a range of support and services, all in the same location.

“They listened to her, and they tried to refer her to the experts. TACT had empathy, compassion and expertise. She sadly discovered this just too late to save her life”

Jane has recently taken part in Crucial Crew, an annual personal safety course for children in the final year of primary school. She was able to tell Amy’s story and explain the dangers of alcohol.

She said: “The children really engaged with Amy’s story and it made a huge impression on them. It is some comfort to think that, even though she is no longer alive, Amy’s voice is being heard and her story is helping to protect children from future harm as a result of alcohol.

“My heart will always be utterly broken, and I’ll never be able to put my shattered life back together, but I am trying to keep moving and keep breathing. Amy was my dearest friend, my soulmate, and magical company; to know her was to love her, and I yearn for her constantly. The pain of her loss never goes away, and it is made even worse by knowing that she did not need to die.”

For more information about the support offered by Share Shrewsbury, visit shareshrewsbury.org.uk.