‘Busy A&E failed to help suicidal teenager’
OvERlOADED A&E staff failed to effectively communicate with the parents of a suicidal teenager, an inquest heard.
In August last year 16-year-old lee Ridgway was taken to Stockport’s Stepping Hill Hospital in a highly distressed and intoxicated state shouting that he ‘wanted to die.’
After struggling for hours to keep him under control his parents were told at around 3am that it would be another three or four hours before he was seen, and decided to take him home.
later that day – August 28, 2016 – lee slipped out of the house, walked to Bramhall station and stepped under a train.
Cath Marsland, risk and governance manager at Stepping Hill, told the court that on the night lee was brought in the emergency department was so busy that a ‘red status’ had been triggered,
However, she said she would have expected staff to keep popping back to speak to lee and reassure his parents while they waited – something they say did not happen.
Ms Marsland also said staff could have given Mr and Mrs Ridgway more information about why the wait was so long.
“It is all about communication,” she said.
“It’s frustrating for people when they don’t know what is going on.”
The unit was so busy there were no cubicles available so lee was given a bed in the ‘sub waiting room,’ which is open to the ward, and his parents said he was extremely agitated and kept attempting to leave.
Mrs Ridgway said they were ‘devastated’ when they were told it would be so long before a doctor could see lee. “He was pleading with us to take him home,” she said.
“We had no way of keeping him there for that long.”
The court heard that one of the nurses called Mrs Ridgway at home on the morning of August 28 to ask where they were and check that lee was safe, but did not request that his parents bring him back to hospital, or explain the consequences of not bringing him back.
It was said that if lee had returned to the hospital he could have been seen by a psychiatric assessment team, and either admitted to hospital or referred to the community mental health team – but that was not explained.
Ms Marsland said: “Clearly there was a breakdown of communication in that phone call.”
Proceeding.