Kentish Express Ashford & District
Hospital ‘failings’ led to death of support worker
Inquest hears how 34-year-old left Harvey
A support worker died after being allowed to leave hospital while ill and not understanding the consequences of his actions, a court has heard.
An inquest into the death of Craig Phelan heard staff at the William Harvey failed to assess his capacity, directly leading to his death.
The coroner’s court heard that had medical staff carried out a capacity check, they would have found the Dover man lacked the capacity to understand the situation he was in, and would have been legally able to restrain him to give him the treatment he desperately needed.
It also heard that at the time of Mr Phelan’s death on May 19, 2020, capacity checks were taken out on less than a third of patients who needed them.
The body of the 34-year-old, who had a history of mental illness and problems with alcohol, was found in a stretch of woodland off Bockham Lane near the hospital after he was allowed to leave in the early hours of that morning.
A post-mortem gave his cause
of death as alcoholic ketoacidosis, with a background of alcohol related fatty liver disease and early bronchopneumonia.
He was first admitted to hospital when family members called an ambulance after finding him ill and breathing heavily at his home, with what appeared to be vomit mixed with blood in the sink.
However, he left almost immediately after being brought in, with a second ambulance bringing him back after reportedly finding him at a nearby Tesco petrol station.
Upon his second admission, he accepted treatment from doctors before becoming increasingly agitated and demanding to be allowed to go home.
The inquest at County Hall in Maidstone heard that a second doctor, a nurse and two security guards pleaded with Mr Phelan to stay in the hospital, eventually convincing him to go back to his bed.
However, he quickly became agitated again and insisted on leaving, with his nurse and security failing to convince him to stay, and becoming confused over their rights to prevent him from leaving without a formal capacity check.
The court heard that if a capacity check had been taken it would have found him lacking capacity, meaning security could have restrained him for his own safety.
Giving evidence, the doctor who first assessed him said that he was “surprised (the patient) was even able to get up”, let alone walk out of the hospital unaided.