Health trust slammed over teen girls’ suicide
THREE teenage girls who took their own lives were failed by a mental health trust, a damning series of reports has concluded.
Christie Harnett, 17, Nadia Sharif, 17, and Emily Moore, 18, died in hospital during an eight-month period before the pandemic.
The reports, commissioned by NHS England and published together, identified a total of 120 failings in their care.
They also highlighted “systemic” problems within the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust that played a key role in the deaths.
West Lane Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where all three were treated for mental health problems, was found to have “unstable and over-stretched services” that were among the “root causes” of Christie and Nadia’s deaths.
Unacceptable
The families of the three girls yesterday jointly called for a public inquiry.
Their statement said: “Our beautiful girls should not have been failed in this way and we need the answers to many more questions.
“We call on the Government to start a public inquiry that looks at this trust and the services provided across the country for young people in crisis.”
Both Christie, from County Durham, and Nadia, from Middlesbrough, died in the care ofWest Lane Hospital in 2019.
Emily, from County Durham, was also treated at West Lane but was transferred on turning 18 to Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham, where she died in February 2020.
Brent Kilmurray, the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust chief executive, said he “apologised unreservedly for the unacceptable failings”.
He added: “The girls and their families deserved better under our care. We must do everything in our power to ensure these failings can never be repeated.”
Margaret Kitching, Chief Nurse for NHS England, North East and Yorkshire, said: “These reports make for very difficult reading and our thoughts are with the families of these three people.
“We have put measures in place to protect patients while we support the trust in making the programme of improvements needed at every level.”