METAL detectors could be used to search patients and visitors at a South-ampton psychiatric unit plagued by suicides.

Bosses at the city's Department of Psychiatry are considering introducing hand-held machines as part of a security review to stop weapons being smuggled on to the wards. The plan comes nine months after a 29-year-old patient died in a hospital shower after slitting his throat with a Swiss army knife.

Accountant Matthew McDonald, who had been receiving treatment for paranoid schizophrenia, was one of four people to apparently take their own lives at the troubled unit last year.

An inquest in December ruled that staff could have done more to prevent his death - and left his family asking why he had been allowed to keep a knife on the ward.

Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust, which runs mental health services across the county, today confirmed it was "seriously considering" the introduction of metal detectors to improve security at the hospital.

Chief executive Martin Barkley told the Daily Echo: "The trust has a policy for the search of people using our inpatient services, which places as paramount the need to promote a trusting and therapeutic relationship, and to respect the human rights of patients to privacy, dignity and respect. As part of a review of the process for searching individuals, we are considering the use of hand-held metal detectors to help staff detect prohibited items."

Mr Barkley added: "However, we will not introduce metal detectors until we have fully consulted with service users, carers and staff about their usage. It is also important that we consult with our legal advisors to ensure the use of such equipment complies with our obligations as a mental health service provider."

Matthew, who had a politics degree from Liverpool University, had attempted suicide twice previously, including one occasion when he tried to stab himself in the heart with a penknife.

His mother, Di McDonald, from Portswood, Southampton, was shocked that staff had not searched him, given his history. Backing plans to introduce metal detectors, she said: "If it would save lives, then it should be done."

The Department of Psychiatry is based on the same site as the Royal South Hants Hospital in central Southampton.

In October last year, the Daily Echo lifted the lid on conditions inside the unit after obtaining a leaked document outlining nurses' concerns about widespread staff vacancies. It claimed employees were working in a climate of fear, often turning a blind eye when patients openly took drugs or alcohol on the wards.

However, health bosses have spent more than £500,000 in the last four years in a bid to improve the environment, as well as £200,000 on routine maintenance.