A 14-YEAR-OLD girl who died following a harrowing cyberbullying campaign was “let down at every possible opportunity” by her school, an inquest heard this week.

Megan Evans, from Milford Haven, was found dead at her home in February 2017 after allegedly being targeted online with an “I hate Megan Evans” group and other abusive messages urging her to “kill herself.”

Her heartbroken mother, Nicola Harteveld, discovered additional bullying groups after logging into Megan’s social media accounts.

Allegations against teachers

Megan’s best friend, Chloe Boswell, told the inquest in Haverfordwest that the school environment added to Megan’s distress. Chloe, now 22, described the teachers as “absolutely horrible” to Megan, claiming one staff member responsible for behavior management “picked on her” about her uniform.

“The school didn’t create a safe space for students to speak about bullying,” Chloe said.

Nicola Harteveld shared similar frustrations, accusing the school of failing to address her daughter’s struggles. “At every opportunity, she was belittled by people she was supposed to trust,” Nicola told the inquest.

The lead-up to Megan’s death

The hearing was told Megan appeared to be her “normal bubbly self” on the day of her death. She had attended a school meeting about a trip to France and seemed in good spirits.

Later that evening, her parents left for Cardiff with Megan’s younger siblings, leaving her at home with her older siblings. Around 10:00pm, her brother found her locked in an upstairs bathroom. Despite efforts from her family and emergency services, Megan could not be saved.

Friends said Megan had expressed feelings of hopelessness on Snapchat before her death. Her friend Travis Johnson recalled Megan saying, “I CBA [could not be bothered] anymore,” hours before she died.

But the inquest heard differing views on whether Megan was bullied. While Chloe reported witnessing bullying and suggested students felt unable to confide in teachers, Malcolm Duthie, representing Pembrokeshire County Council, said friends questioned at the time did not believe Megan was being bullied.

Duthie acknowledged the difficulty schools face in tracking online abuse, particularly on platforms like Snapchat, where messages vanish after 24 hours.

Megan was remembered as a talented artist, hockey player, and a caring, vibrant teenager. Her family described her as having “a big heart” and bringing “love and laughter” to their home.

In the wake of Megan’s death, her mother founded Megan’s Starr Foundation, a charity offering free counseling and peer support to young people across Pembrokeshire. Nicola has since campaigned to raise awareness of mental health challenges and the dangers of social media bullying.

The inquest continues.

For confidential support, contact Samaritans on 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org.

STUDENTS from across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Powys have been recognised for their outstanding contributions to a poster competition run as part of the Dyfed-Powys Police Operation Ivydene initiative.

Over the past few months, primary and secondary schools across the four counties were invited to submit designs highlighting the impact of anti-social behaviour (ASB) and the importance of promoting safer neighbourhoods.

Last week, the posters were judged by a panel of police officers and crime prevention specialists to come up with the winners.

A special prize-giving ceremony was held on Monday 18^th November, where the five winning students were honoured for their outstanding contributions.

‘Antisocial behaviour’ is a broad term which includes behaviour that has caused or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to a member or members of the public. Criminal and non-criminal behaviours such as littering, vandalism, public drunkenness, aggressive dogs, or noise nuisance may also be considered ASB. 

Caryl Griffiths, ASB Hotspot Co-ordinator for Dyfed-Powys Police said: “The goal of this competition was to engage students in understanding the effects of anti-social behaviour on their communities, and to inspire them to think about how they can contribute to a safer, more supportive environment.

“Judging the competition was challenging due to the high standard of entries, but we ultimately selected five winners who showed exceptional creativity and thoughtfulness.

“A special thanks to Bethan James, our Schools Service Manager, for her role in bringing all the schools together.

Until March 2025, ten of the areas worst hit by antisocial behaviour across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, and Powys will receive additional dedicated ‘Hotspot’ police patrols through Operation Ivydene, thanks to an injection of cash from the Home Office, secured for the force by Police and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn.

The patrols focus on tackling these types of issues in the following areas: 

• Carmarthenshire – Tyisha, Elli / Llanelli town centre, Carmarthen town and Ammanford.  
• Ceredigion – Aberystwyth and Aberaeron. 
• Pembrokeshire – Haverfordwest town centre and Tenby town centre.  
• Powys – east Newtown and Brecon. 

Inspector Darren Crockford said: “Operation Ivydene is a targeted initiative that uses a ‘Hotspot’ policing approach to address and behaviour that constitutes ASB and causes harm and alarm in the community.

“Hotspots have been selected as the areas experiencing the highest volumes of violence and antisocial behaviour (ASB) offences and based on local intelligence. 

“The patrols aim to provide a reassuring presence to help people feel safe while also proactively disrupting crime and acting as a deterrent.

“An important element of the overall Operation Ivydene approach will be to engage with our communities having meaningful discussions about how ASB impacts the community, and encourage them to take an active role in creating safe and positive places to live.”

Bethan James, Dyfed-Powys Police Schools Service Manger added: “Our Schools Service offers crime prevention sessions to children and young people on topics such as ASB where we use bespoke films and real-life examples to reflect victims’ experiences and explore the boundaries between fun and fear.

“Sessions delivered by our team of Schools Police Officers are specifically designed to challenge mindsets and attitudes in a safe and supportive learning environment.

“The discussions between the officers and the learners explore the long-lasting, harmful effects of ASB, about crimes and consequences and where children can find advice and support.”

During national Anti-Social Behaviour Week, Dyfed-Powys Police is sharing information to help members of the public recognise, report, and get support for anti-social behaviour. Follow them on Facebook for more information.

ALTHOUGH the latest batch of NHS performance data contained some good news for the Welsh government, chronic problems with meeting targets remain the headline.

The Welsh Government announced further funding to reduce waiting lists earlier this week. Following that announcement, the Health Minister, Jeremy Miles, led a Welsh Parliament debate on waiting times on Tuesday, November 19.

HARD FIGURES

The number of patient pathways increased from 800,163 in August to 801,307 in September, the highest figure on record, equivalent to one-quarter of the Welsh population.

There were still around 618,200 individual patients waiting for treatment in September.

Two-year waits remain at 23,701 in Wales. Eluned Morgan promised to eliminate these waits by March 2023 and again by March this year. The dial is moving slowly in the right direction, but progress is painfully small.

At the end of September, the average (median) time patient pathways had been waiting for treatment was 22.7 weeks.

In October, only 50.4% of red calls (the most serious) received an emergency/ambulance response within eight minutes. This is a tiny improvement but a long way short of the Welsh Government’s performance target for the Welsh Ambulance Service. The Ambulance Service has never hit any of its performance targets since the Welsh Government first set them.

Performance worsened against the 62-day target for patients starting cancer treatment; it is now 55% as of September.

MINISTER FINDS THE POSITIVES

Wales’s Health Minister, Jeremy Miles, responded to the data: “I’m pleased to see the number of patient pathways waiting more than a year and two years for treatment have fallen in the last month.

“This shows positive progress is being made across Wales to reduce the longest waiting times. I hope to see this continue.

“While there has been a small rise in the overall number of patient pathways waiting to start treatment, more than half are waiting less than 26 weeks, and there was a fall in the number waiting more than 36 weeks in September.

“We recognise the impact long waits for treatment can have on someone’s life, both mentally and physically, so we have a laser-like focus on reducing the longest waits and improving access to patient care.

“More than 1,800 people started cancer treatment in September, and nearly 14,000 people received the good news they didn’t have cancer.

“There were also reductions in the long waits for both diagnostics and therapies services and some reductions in the numbers of pathway of care delays.

“Urgent and emergency care services continue to be under great pressure – in October, the Welsh Ambulance Service received the second highest number and proportion of immediately life-threatening calls per day on record, but more than half of these calls received a response within eight minutes.”

NHS “AT CRISIS POINT”

Sam Rowlands MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister, said: “I fear that we are at a crisis point as waiting list figures continue to head in the wrong direction in Labour-run Wales.

“The Labour Health Minister’s latest initiatives, even if his expectations are met, will barely scratch the surface in terms of tackling these excessive, record-breaking waits for treatment. Something needs to change fast.

“The Welsh Conservatives will stand up for the Welsh people’s priorities by eliminating restrictive guidance blocking cross-border and cross-sector working and by enacting a substantial workforce plan to boost staffing numbers, with a tuition fee refund for healthcare workers at its heart.”

LOCAL TRENDS

The month-to-month performance data provide a limited snapshot of the details. Their nature encourages politicians to exchange barbs and engage in self-praise. Specious comparisons between Welsh NHS performance and English NHS performance crumble under the gentlest scrutiny, not least as the English NHS counts waiting times and collates patient data differently from the Welsh.

Long-term trends are more revealing.

Immediately before the Covid pandemic (data released in March 2020), 1.6% of patients in the Hywel Dda UHB area waited over 36 weeks from referral to treatment. 85.7% of patients went from referral to treatment within 26 weeks.

By March 2022, 35.2% of patients in the local health board area were waiting for more than 36 weeks, and the percentage seen within 26 weeks had fallen to 56.7%. By the following March, just over 60% were seen within 26 weeks, and the proportion of patients waiting more than 36 weeks had fallen to 28.2%.

If you move forward to September 2024, Hywel Dda UHB’s performance figures have marginally slipped. There are no peaks and troughs in the performance data; they remain steadily bumping along at the same level and are far worse than they were in March 2020.

The Health Minister’s honest acknowledgement that the £50m funding injection to address waiting times is a short-term measure to boost performance and not a long-term solution highlights the scale of the problem. The question of waiting lists is not how much money it will take to tackle them but how much money will be spent before radical reform tackles systemic problems with healthcare delivery.

Placing Hywel Dda’s difficulties in a national perspective, the Welsh Government’s planned care recovery plan established a target to eliminate two-year waits in most specialities by March 2023. ‘Most’ refers to all specialities, excluding seven recognised as exceptionally challenging even prior to the pandemic.

Those specialisms, which include Orthopaedics, ENT, and Gynaecology, are large areas of surgical practice. They are excluded from targeted improvements because tackling them is too difficult. Proposals to establish surgical hubs made by the Welsh Conservatives have not attracted Welsh Government support as resources and staffing remain highly problematic. However, a quick win for the Welsh Government on the longest waiting times is potentially available.