‘Repeated warnings’ at NHS trust where 369 took own lives
MORE than 360 patients took their own lives after being treated by a mental health trust that was warned 15 times to improve care by coroners in the past five years, The Sunday Telegraph has found.
Last night, bereaved families, MPs and charities called for an urgent investigation by ministers and health regulators into “repeated failings” and missed chances to prevent suicides.
Between 2016 and last year, 369 patients at Sussex Partnership NHS Trust took their own lives, including seven on the trust’s own wards, The Telegraph has found.
During the same period, the trust – which covers Chichester, the constituency of Gillian Keegan, the minister for mental health – was warned about failures including incorrect discharges, medication errors, and a lack of supervision of mental health patients. Ms Keegan did not respond to a request for comment about her constituency.
Officials were told through letters from Sussex coroners, called prevention of future death reports, that action should be taken.
The family of Beth Tenquist, 26, who died in 2019 as a result of hanging, on one of the trust’s wards, said lessons had not been learnt from her death.
Calling for government intervention, Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary and chair of the health and social care select committee, said: “These repeated incidents are deeply concerning and [warrant] further investigation.
“Bereaved families deserve to know whether vital opportunities to learn lessons and prevent tragedies have been missed, and whether there are deeper, more systemic issues at this trust.
“I hope regulators and ministers will look at this as a matter of urgency.”
Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP, the shadow health secretary, said: “I hope regulators and ministers will look into this matter and conduct an independent inquiry as a matter of urgency.”
In January last year, Nadine Dorries, the health minister at the time, announced an inquiry into Essex NHS trusts following the deaths of 11 mental health in-patients between 2004 and 2015 in response to the recommendations of a Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) report.
In 2016 the trust was warned after Joanne French, 38, was discharged from hospital following communication errors by the trust between staff and the family. She had been in hospital for just over a week after a serious attempt on her life. After being discharged she was found dead by a member of the public in Southwick, near Brighton.
In 2018 coroners said that another patient, Paul Hanton, 52, had absconded from care after a walk in the grounds in Crawley, after which he was found dead on train tracks in London.
The coroner noted that nurses were not sure who was meant to be the one in charge of his care.
In 2020, the trust was warned over the death of Christopher Swain, 38, who was also found hanged in his room in Langley Green Hospital in Crawley.
The coroner noted that “no formal review, care plan or adequate risk assessment was carried out in respect of his mental health”.
When he was found, he was believed to have been dead for some time.
The Department of Health and Social Care said that it had no plans to conduct an inquiry into Sussex, and added that the inquiry into Essex will draw national conclusions.
A spokesman for Sussex Partnership Trust said: “High-quality care is our absolute priority.”