Dad found hanged after absconding from hospital
THE inquest of a man who killed himself after absconding from hospital heard it would have been “too late” to save him even if he’d been discovered on the morning he left Ysbyty Gwynedd.
Father-of-three Dervyn Thomas was found hanged in woodland near a Tesco store in Bangor on October 2 after he left the hospital on September 22.
The hearing heard the 45-year-old walked out of an open cubicle at an “extremely busy” Ysbyty Gwynedd, where he was being treated after cutting himself with a small razor blade at his home in Lon Bach, Caernarfon.
Hospital staff feared he was at risk of absconding and he was seen by psychiatric nurses because of his mental state.
The inquest in Caernarfon heard he should have had one-to-one attention, which wasn’t given because of “enormous pressure” on staff.
Despite doctors twice closing his wound with suture strips and dressing, Mr Thomas took them off and reopened it with his fingers before it was stitched.
When he was told when they would be removed, Mr Thomas replied: “I am not going to be alive in seven to 10 days’ time.”
Dr Tomos Owens then had to stop Mr Thomas trying to open the stitches using a scalpel he’d found.
Police chief inspector Mark Armstrong said Mr Thomas was seen by hospital staff leaving at 8.47am. He walked from the x-ray department towards the hospital’s helipad, but that information was not communicated to police for another three and a half hours.
Chief Insp Armstrong said that, despite two searches of the area including the woods, nothing was found.
After bank checks proved fruitless, he decided to call in another dog team from British International Rescue Dogs, who found Mr Thomas’ body.
Chief Insp Armstrong said that, even if they had found him on the morning he absconded, “it would have been too late”.
The officer said Mr Thomas was the fourth and last absconder from Ysbyty Gwynedd to have died in recent months, but added that a joint plan of action by police and the health board had seen a reduction in the number of absconders and no deaths since.
Coroner Nicola Jones described Mr Thomas as “a gentle, quiet man who loved his children”.
Although he was “not of sound mind” that day, he was not known to the mental health teams.
Giving a narrative conclusion, Mrs Jones said: “It is very clear that Mr Thomas has taken his own life because of his state of mind.
“I don’t think he was able to form a reasoned judgement.”
In a statement, Mandy Jones, Ysbyty Gwynedd’s assistant director of nursing, said: “We now have in place more robust measures for monitoring patients at risk of self-harm and absconsion.
“This has led to a significant reduction in the number of people who have left our care while receiving treatment at Ysbyty Gwynedd.
“We have also improved how we work with police to monitor patients who have absconded, and have a thorough missing persons policy in place.”