A MOTHER asked at an inquest why she was not told about her son's deteriorating health before he died of a drug overdose.

Stephen James Bridges, aged 44, from St Owen's Street in Hereford died on November 14 at Hereford County Hospital.

The inquest held on Wednesday at Hereford Town Hall heard that Mrs Bridges raised the alarm after becoming worried about her son and 'noticing a change' in him.

After making several unanswered calls the previous day she attended his property on November 13.

Mrs Bridges said support services had not told them about any change in her son.

"He had seemed down but nobody actually told us Stephen was that bad," Mrs Bridges said.

Mark Bricknell, coroner for Herefordshire concluded that the death was drug related.

He said that authorities had a 'very difficult line to tread'.

"There were a number of people trying to help him," added Mr Bricknell.

"We know he had in his body all sorts of drugs, that caused his death."

The inquest heard that Mr Bridges was receiving support from mental health services and that a 'principle risk to him was an accidental overdose through drugs and alcohol'.

Dr Susan Mayaki, from Nuffield Health, added that Mr Bridges was "pleasant, appropriate and engaged" with the help he was receiving.

However, the inquest heard that shortly before his death Mr Bridges had been flagged to the crisis team as his risk of an accidental overdose was high.

Alex Amies, recovery worker, had been monitoring Mr Bridges' collection of medication in the days before his death.

He said the service had noticed some 'unusual behaviour' in Mr Bridges but days later he had appeared 'a little better'

On November 13, emergency services were called by Mrs Bridges to her son's flat.

The fire service forced entry and found Mr Bridges in the living room.

Paramedics attended and Mr Bridges was taken to hospital.

Dr Thamindran Chetty, of the Wye Valley NHS Trust said that on arrival at A&E they were successful in resuscitating him after 20 minutes.

However, his condition deteriorated and Mr Bridges died on November 14.

A post-mortem found a respiratory failure as a consequence of multi-drug ingestion including cocaine.

Dr Andreas Marnerides, of St Thomas' Hospital in London, said the combined effect was "non-reversible".