FOODBANK staff are being forced to deal with people threatening suicide.

Staff at Trussell Trust foodbanks have spoken about how overwhelmed they feel by the numbers of clients reporting depression and suicidal thoughts.

Volunteer workers are even driving unwell foodbank users to hospital - with one spending the night in A&E with a man who said he would kill himself.

READ MORE: Cash-strapped Greater Maryhill Foodbank to close permanently

Gillian McCormick, of Glasgow NW foodbank, said: "We have people come in and threaten to commit suicide or to self harm.

"They come into the foodbank after they have done it - they roll up their sleeves and show you the cuts on their arms.

"Recently, in one day, I sat with five clients who had disclosed mental illness to me with one having cut themself and another threatening to commit suicide that night.

"It's really horrible, actually. It's not easy to leave behind at the end of the day.

"You think about it constantly - have I done the right thing, did I say the right thing, could I have done more?"

READ MORE: Cash-strapped Greater Maryhill Foodbank to close permanently

For foodbank workers, the first port of call is to phone the person's GP to request an emergency appointment and then call social work.

But in some situations, the client has been at breaking point and phonecalls are not enough.

Tara Macguire, who also works for the Trussell Trust, spend a night in A&E with one man, driving him from A&E to another hospital when medical staff said he would have to travel by taxi.

Tara said: "One gentleman was in such a state that the only thing we could have done was call the police but he couldn't have coped with the police taking him anywhere so myself and a volunteer took him to hospital.

"We waited for hours for him to be assessed and then they wanted to send him to another hospital by taxi. I said, 'I'll take him if you can't'.

"Having to leave him there was very difficult. You don't like to think of people being on their own."

One Glasgow Trussell Trust foodbank now has a worker from the Samaritans based in it to talk to both clients and under-pressure staff and volunteers.

Staff are also being trained to deal with clients who have mental health issues.

Tara said: "It is really important to have someone on site for clients - you can't expect people to make their own way somewhere else when they are in that state.

"I worry about my volunteers. I'm staff, this is my job, and I know how hard I find it. And if I find it that hard then what must it be like for them?"

Tara, Gillian and Gillian's husband, Kyle, are now organising a walk through Glasgow to highlight the need for mental health support for people using foodbanks.

The walk - 7.5s for the Stephen Maguires - is named for Tara's cousin who committed suicide following the death of his brother from a brain tumour.

Food bank staff and volunteers will walk seven-and-a-half kilometres from Tesco Parkhead to Yoker Parish Church.

And they are looking for people to join them on the march, which starts at noon on Saturday, May 14, to highlight the problems being faced.

Tara said: "Gillian and I had been talking about how difficult things had been getting and how much worse.

"Eventually we said, 'let's stop bumping our gums and actually do something' - so this was it. I think it's going to be very cathartic."

Any money raised will help promote the Samaritans service and roll it out to the three other Trussell Trust foodbanks in Glasgow.

READ MORE: Cash-strapped Greater Maryhill Foodbank to close permanently

Registration beings at 11.30am and live band Aversion will be playing for a a party at the finish line.