THE husband of a woman who killed herself in a Preston hospital has called for lessons to be learned from her tragic death.

Felicity Clarke - who suffered from psychiatric problems - suffocated herself with rubber gloves and cotton wipes when she was a patient at the Royal Preston Hospital in February.

Mrs Clarke, then aged 45, had a history of suicide attempts and was in for plastic surgery on her wrists after she had cut them earlier that month.

At the inquest on Friday (May 2) her husband Simon, of Gorse Road, Blackpool, said he didn't blame anyone for her death but called for hospitals to look at the way they deal with patients with a psychiatric history.

He said: "However Felicity had been handled she would have found a place to commit suicide. But hospitals need to improve what they do to help other patients.

"I would like to see something positive come from Felicity's death to help other patients in a similar position."

Mrs Clarke died on February 10 a few days after an incident in the Blackpool branch of Boots where she took an overdose and then cut her wrists in the disabled toilets. She was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital and then transferred to Preston.

Back in 1986 Felicity was admitted to hospital when she tried to hang herself from the stairs and attempting to make it look like an accident and in 1991 she was again taken to hospital after taking an overdose.

Coroner Howard McCann recorded a verdict that Felicity killed herself.

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