Dad ‘went to town to buy gift’ on day he was hit by train
HOSPITAL STAFF WERE NOT HANDED VITAL INFORMATION ON PATIENT
A TRAGIC dad told hospital staff he was going out to buy a Mother’s Day gift on the day he was found dead at a train station, an inquest has heard.
Adrian Horsley should not have been allowed to leave the Priestley Unit, a mental health support ward at Dewsbury & District Hospital, alone.
He died after being hit by a train on March 22, 2019.
The 48-year-old, from Meltham, had been admitted to the unit as a voluntary patient on January 3, 2019, after his mental health began to spiral following his cancer diagnosis two years earlier.
Bradford Coroner’s Court heard yesterday that, under normal hospital rules, a voluntary patient would be allowed to leave the ward unsupervised.
But an individual ‘leave plan’ had been formulated for Mr Horsley following a ward review on March 21, 2019, during which he told a consultant psychiatrist he was ‘in a constant state of panic’ and was having thoughts of taking his own life.
Giving evidence yesterday, a health care support worker – who was based on the ward at the time – said information about new restrictions on Mr Horsley’s leave had not been handed over to the majority of staff who came into work the following day.
A fault with an electronic recording system at the unit also meant some staff could not access individual patient’s records on the morning of March 22, 2019.
The support worker recalled seeing Mr Horsley during a medication round on the unit between 8.30am and 8.45am – around an hour after she had started work.
“He appeared to be his usual self,” she said. “He was talkative and polite.”
She said Mr Horsley approached her again a short time later to ask if he could be granted some time away from the unit, to which she replied a qualified nurse would have to assess him beforehand.
Asked what she did next by assistant coroner Peter Merchant, the support worker said: “I can remember I asked if he could leave and was told by a (qualified) nurse that they had already done the assessment.
“He said he was going to walk into Dewsbury to get a Mother’s Day present,” she told the court.
“He said he was not coming back for dinner and was going to call in at the café on his way back.”
Mr Horsley is said to have walked over to a whiteboard in the unit where he wrote his name, the amount of time he expected to be away, and where he was going.
But 30 minutes after he left, a separate member of staff came onto the ward to ask who had allowed the dad-of-one to go unsupervised, the court heard. That is when we found out about restrictions on his leave,” said the support worker. “The ward review was not handed over.”
She went on to recall a receptionist at the ward coming across ‘a news article about the train station.’