A YOUNG Flintshire man's death was drug related, an inquest concluded.

Stephen Curtis Edwards, of Alyn Road, Buckley, died at Wrexham Maelor Hospital's intensive therapy unit (ITU) on May 14, 2021.

On Wednesday at County Hall in Ruthin, an inquest was held into the 21-year-old's death.

It heard that Mr Edwards had a history of substance misuse - with him having been taking drugs, including cocaine and ketamine, since the age of 13.

The inquest was told that on May 10, 2021, Mr Edwards was seen by his sister in the bedroom of their Alyn Road home at about 2.30am and that he had taken a "substance".

Approximately an hour later, Mr Edwards' sister found him in an unresponsive state and with "purple" colouring to his face.

Mr Edwards' family immediately started CPR and, with the assistance of paramedics, managed to restart blood circulation and he was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital for further treatment.

However, Mr Edwards was thought to have been in a state of cardiac arrest for between 75 and 90 minutes - meaning a high chance of severe brain injury.

Hospital scans revealed that Mr Edwards had indeed suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury due to loss of oxygen to the brain.

With a poor prognosis and a lack of neurological response, Mr Edwards was placed in palliative care on May 14, and sadly died a short time later.

A cause of death was recorded as hypoxic brain injury caused by cardiac arrest, which had been caused by a drug overdose.

The inquest was told that Mr Edwards had been under the care of both the mental health and substance misuse services.

However, his referral to both had been discontinued due to lack of engagement in the process by Mr Edwards - with several unanswered letters, phone calls and messages.

A Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board investigation into Mr Edwards' care found that because he was unable to read or write, more attempts could have been made to contact Mr Edwards, or his family, by phone, instead of sending letters.

The investigation also found that opportunities may have been missed to engage Mr Edwards with the services when he presented at A+E on the number of occasions that he did.

Joanne Kendrick, representing the health board as head of nursing, told the hearing that lessons had been learnt from the case and would be implemented in the future.

Recording a conclusion of drug related death, John Gittins, senior coroner for North Wales East and Central, said that he had been reassured by the thoroughness of the health board's investigation and that lessons had been learned.