REFUSING to provide a hospital bed for a Crymych dad suffering severe mental health problems was a death sentence for him, his bereaved wife has said.

Matthew Salisbury, who had been complaining of suicidal thoughts, was found dead just 24 hours after it is claimed he was refused a hospital bed at Carmarthen’s Glangwili Hospital.

Mr Salisbury, aged 34, was found dead in Carmarthen last Monday, May 27.

He leaves behind wife Tara, daughter Alysia, and stepchildren Jessica and Abigail.

Tara said: "The more exposure this gets the less chance someone else will suffer the same thing happening to them. I feel the hospital let my husband down terribly in his time of need and they should have followed the Mental Health Act, and admitted him like he asked for outright.”

Tara said Matthew went to the hospital as a final attempt to seek the help he desperately needed, getting “a sympathetic ear and the same referral he would have received from a GP”.

She believes that, if Matthew, who first sought help for depression last October, had been treated as an emergency and admitted, he would still be alive.

After Matthew repeatedly threatened to take his life, Tara accompanied him to Glangwili’s A&E department on Saturday evening, May 25, after being previously advised to go to A&E if he ever made such a threat.

“I took my husband in a state of crisis to the A&E of our local hospital as both doctors and NHS online advises I do, but rather than responding to his obviously distraught mental state and treating him as we had both asked, he was sent home after being told that all mental health care is now solely carried out in the community, therefore they cannot admit people for help anymore.”

Upon their return home, Tara tried desperately to convince Matthew to change his mind about killing himself.

"He got up on the Sunday morning, said goodbye to everyone and left. I hoped that when he left he would just have a think and not go through with it.”

Tara added: “I feel this was effectively a death sentence for him, as I warned them at the time that if they sent him home in his condition, he would likely kill himself.

“It was my understanding that under the Mental Health Act 1983, the hospital had a duty of care to my husband to protect him from harming himself, even if that meant detaining him against his will if necessary.

“I cannot see how they could justify sending us away when we both asked for him to be admitted for the treatment he obviously so desperately needed.

“It is an extremely difficult task for someone in that state to actually seek help, and to have to admit to people he is planning to kill himself – the fact they listened to his plight then sent him away is utterly disgusting in my opinion.

“This could have been avoided if they had actually treated him the night I took him to hospital.”

Police found Matthew dead in his car just outside Carmarthen in the early hours of Monday morning.

Tara said the loss of Matthew, “a loving father and best friend” had not fully sunk in yet.

Joe Teape, Hywel Dda University Health Board Director of Operations and Deputy Chief Executive said: "On behalf of the health board I would like to pass on our sincere condolences to Mr Salisbury’s family following this tragic incident, and in line with our Serious Incident Review protocols I can confirm that we have launched a clinical review into the circumstances surrounding his death.

“The Health Board will contact the family and arrange to meet with the family as part of this process."