When Erica Hume of Katikati was struggling with the death of a friend and realised she was at risk she sought help, she went to a safe place and trusted people to look after her.

'She deserved to think she was doing everything right by going to the mental health ward at Palmerston North Hospital,” says her grieving mother, Cary Hume of Katikati.

The last photo taken of Erica in March, with dog Hunter.

Her parents also had 'a blind trust” she was getting the help she needed.

But they say it turned out to be the worst decision of Erica's life.

Because Erica's parents got a nightmare phone call to say Erica had been transferred from the mental health ward to ICU and 'probably wouldn't make it”.

Ten days later – on May 16, 2014 – the vibrant, intelligent 21-year-old psychology student at Massey University was dead apparently from 'a self-inflicted injury”.

Cary says Erica put her faith in the hospital…'and look what happened”.

'Had I known what was going on I would have been more vigilant and put a support network in place, rather trust the hospital system was working.”

The incident came just three weeks after the death of Erica's friend Shaun Gray, who was also in the mental Health ward at Palmerston North Hospital.

Erica knew he was dead but didn't know he had died in the Mental health ward.

The deaths triggered a major external review of services at the ward, and the findings were damning.

The report identified under-staffing, overcapacity of patients, a lack of risk assessment and observation, and policy not being followed.

It was also learned that from the time of Erica's admission to the time of her 'incident” there had been no medical review.

'She should have been seen but wasn't. Some people might not like this but we feel that because they didn't stick to policy and procedure Erica died of systemic and medical negligence.”

'If this had happened at any paediatric ward in the country there would have been a national outcry,” says Cary.

'But because it happened in a mental health ward, and had been going on for some time, no-one wanted to know.”

Cary also wants to acknowledge that there were some 'very good people” working at the mental Health Unit at Palmerston North Hospital but they couldn't do much.

'They were not in positions of influence.”

A raft of solutions to the problems have been recommended for the Palmerston North Mental Health ward.

'We also got an apology...but not a personal one. It came via the media,” says Cary.

And now she has a message.

'We actually want to be constructive. We don't want people to be too scared to ask for help…we just want good help to be available when they ask.”

The Hume family was reluctant so speak out initially; they wanted to give Erica dignity.

'However, silence endorses the appalling practises at the mental health ward and people deserve to know. The DHB hadn't been at all helpful until the external audit of the mental health unit. That's when we got our apology.”

In her hometown of Katikati, Erica was well-known and well-liked, and the Hume family says those people deserve to know exactly what happened to Erica and how she was let down.

Carey wants people to know she is not ashamed of Erica.

'In fact I am very proud of her...I always will be.

'And whenever friends speak of her, they all talk of her smile and how friendly, funny, caring and kind she was. She was a wonderful, bright and smiley person.”

'We cry every day. We cry for the future we have lost with Erica but more for the future that Erica was robbed of.”

Now Cary is learning that that level of mental health care and services is wide and varied across New Zealand.

The Humes say we need all DHBs to look at what's happening both on the ward and in the community.

'They need to be brutally honest with themselves and address the issue. Our daughter died because there was silence.”

Then just last week came a final honour.

The Hume's were advised Massey University will posthumously award Erica's Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in psychology.