Pharmacy worker died a day after mum had stroke
A PHARMACY worker who wrote in her diaries of being under pressure at work killed herself the day after her mother suffered a stroke.
Colleagues of Sue Lamb raised the alarm after she failed to turn up early for work at the Well Pharmacy in Manselton as usual on April 19 this year.
One went to her home on Pentregethin Road in Cwmbwrla and when she was unable to get an answer flagged down a police car. After forcing entry the 59-yearold was discovered in her living room surrounded by empty tablet packets.
PC Amy Sharp told an inquest into her death at Swansea’s Guildhall that Ms Lamb had lived with her parents, Derek and Mary. Derek Lamb had died in 2015 and at the funeral she had told mourners she did not know how she and her mother would continue without her father.
PC Sharp said the house was in a very poor condition, with the ceiling falling in and buckets around the house to collect water coming in, which her diaries revealed she would get up to empty in the middle of the night.
The upstairs bathroom floor was also collapsing, causing her to fall and injure herself, despite the family having tens of thousands of pounds in the bank.
Neighbours revealed that when they had taken food round for Sue and her mother, they would take it from them on the doorstep and would not be invited inside. It was also noted the letter box to the house had been taped over.
Her diaries, which she had kept daily since 2014, revealed she was suffering from ME and depression and had expressed a desire to take her own life, but that she had not visited a doctor since 2015.
Colleague Sheryl Owen, who had raised the alarm with police, described Ms Lamb as a very private person, who would show an interest in the personal life of friends and colleagues, but revealed little about her own.
She was also described as very conscientious and hard working, and had been with the company since 1979, believed to be their longest-serving member of staff.
It was also revealed that in April 2020 she had written an address to a coroner in the event of her death from Covid, saying she had been bullied by a work manager who ‘had no compassion at all and I want you to know this.’ Her diaries also revealed she felt pressured at work, particularly during lockdown when customers were increasingly abusive to staff, as well as complaining of the workload at the branch.
Dawn George, Well area operations manager for Swansea, told the inquest it had not been evident Ms Lamb had struggled any more than any other member of staff during lockdown, and added the company had procedures in place should anyone wish to raise concerns, or complain about the behaviour of colleagues, none of which Ms Lamb had used.
“I had no idea she was struggling as she was”, said Ms George.
The day before Ms Lamb was discovered, her 85-year-old mother Mary had suffered a stroke.
Assistant coroner Aled Wyn Gruffydd said a note found near Ms Lamb when she was discovered referred to her mother’s stroke, and the abusive behaviour of customers, and the state of her house and her health conditions including ME. It warned people not to enter the bathroom toilet because of the state of the floor where she had injured herself three weeks previously. Her diaries had also referenced being depressed and suicidal, and featured pleas for support. A post mortem examination revealed the cause of death to be toxicity relating to two different medicines.
Mr Gruffydd said the state of the house had appeared in her diaries, and concerns with customers and workload, and abusive customers, but that she had not appeared to have sought help for any of those issues.
He added: “Her mother suffered a stroke the day before she died and as it happened has made a good recovery, but she expressed she did not see how she would cope on her own without her mother. [Her concerns about] the care for her mother it seems was the straw that broke the camel’s back”.
Recording a conclusion of suicide, he added: “I found this a very distressing case to hear. She had health conditions but had not looked for support, and work pressures but had not made any complaints, and the house was in disrepair. The advice to share a problem has never been more appropriate than in this case”.
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