Police station death inquest told of errors
A CUSTODY nurse who spent “seconds” with a man who later died in a police cell before deciding he was fit to be detained has admitted making “several errors”.
Lynn Hetherington told an inquest her decision to let Mark Needham sleep rather than carrying out a full medical assessment on him was “fundamentally flawed”.
Mr Needham, 52, died at the Forth Banks Northumbria Police station on July 23, 2015 after suffering four seizures in his cell – six hours after he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Benwell.
Ms Hetherington told a hearing at Newcastle Civic Centre that she was
“led down the path that Mr Needham was intoxicated and was sleeping the alcohol off ”.
And when asked whether there were other occasions at Forth Banks when people had been left to sober up before being assessed, she replied: “Possibly”.
The inquest previously heard that Mr Needham, who had a history of alcohol addiction, homelessness and ill health, was taken to the station at around 9am. Ms Hetherington said she came out of her room when Mr Needham arrived because she heard “a bit of a commotion”.
The inquest heard custody sergeant Andrew Nicholson went to speak to her at about 10.10am.
Ms Hetherington said: “He was concerned about Mr Needham and said he had warnings that he was alcohol dependent and suffered withdrawal seizures. He confirmed it was the man who had made a bit of commotion and I said I would give him an hour or so to calm down and then see him.
“I was informed that Mr Needham had been detained for being drunk and disorderly. From that I made the assumption that he would be intoxicated and that a withdrawal seizure wouldn’t be imminent.”
Asked by senior coroner Karen Dilks whether a medical assessment would have informed that more directly, she replied: “Yes”.
The inquest heard that Ms Hetherington did not see Mr Needham until 1.30pm, when she received a request from Sgt Nicholson.
Asked why he wasn’t visited before that, she replied: “There was a new electronic custody record going live that day and I hadn’t had any training at that point. There was a lot of problems occurring with it and I think time just elapsed.”
The jury was shown CCTV from around 12.25pm, when Ms Hetherington was heard saying she would allow another hour for him to show signs of sobering up.
On the visit itself, she told the hearing: “I went into the cell and observed Mr Needham. I shouted his name and then shouted louder.
“He looked peaceful, he looked comfortable, his colour was good, there were no concerns with his respiration. I made the decision that he was asleep.
“I concluded that he was fit to be detained and that I would need to review him at some point during the shift to make a further assessment.”
Ms Dilks asked: “Can you help me with what the basis of your decision was, given there was no examination of him and you spent only seconds with him?”
She replied: “I can’t.” Ms Hetherington later added: “I made several errors of assessment of Mr Needham that morning.
“I have the skills to do the assessment that you are talking about and for some reason I found myself led down the path that Mr Needham was intoxicated and was sleeping the alcohol off.” She agreed with the coroner that the assessment was “fundamentally flawed”.
The inquest, scheduled to last for four weeks, continues.