Health worker at clinic where Molly, 20, died was ‘learning on the job’
HE WAS ONLY GIVEN ‘A SNAPSHOT’ AT HANDOVERS, INQUEST IS TOLD
A HEALTHCARE assistant who was working at a Nottinghamshire mental health clinic where a young woman was found unresponsive did not receive the required training, an inquest was told.
Molly-star Kirk, 20, was an inpatient at the Farndon Unit in Newark when she died on May 29, 2022, seven months after her admission.
Molly had been an inpatient at various hospitals and clinics across the country for her mental health problems and was moved from a hospital in Maidstone to the Newark facility for a specific type of therapy. Karma Oluoje was a student healthcare assistant at Farndon, studying for his PHD, at the time of Molly’s death.
Mr Oluoje had only joined the clinic on May 8, 2022, and had not worked as a healthcare assistant before, the 10-day inquest into Molly’s death was told yesterday.
Mr Oluoje gave evidence during the hearing at Nottingham Council House saying that, although he had received training for his role from his agency, he was not talked through any policy documents while at Farndon.
He told the court that he was completing two shifts per week at the time and was “learning on the job while the shift was happening and while events were occurring”. Mr Oluoje also did not have any login details for the computer system, leaving him unable to access the patient’s medical history from when he was not on shift and catch up with any significant updates. He went on to say during the hearing, which was attended by Molly’s family, that he would always attend a handover at the beginning of his shift, which only lasted 15-20 minutes. Coroner Laurinda Bower said that, given the fact there were eight patients on the ward at the time, 15-20 minutes would have only allowed for Mr Oluoje to receive “a snapshot” of what he needed to know, rather than a “detailed, clinical handover”. He looked after Molly between 10am and 11am on the day she died and told the court that he does not remember what he was told about her or her observation level during the handover. Molly was on a high observation level, meaning she had to be checked 12 times per hour, the equivalent of every five minutes.
Mr Oluoje stated that he remembers being told about Molly’s specific risks, which included swallowing random objects and head banging, and that he was told to look out for such behaviours. On the morning of Molly’s death, he did not know how long Molly had been in her room or asleep and CCTV captured him only performing four checks on her, which were only seconds long.
He told Coroner Bower that the CCTV was incorrect, to which she replied “either you have powers of invisibility or you did not do the checks”.
The inquest continues.