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The mother of a young woman who committed suicide on a hospital ward has criticized staff for “indifference, ignorance, at times even cruelty”. NHS The Trust was fined more than £500,000.
After more than 10 similar attempts, 22-year-old Alice Figueiredo took her own life in the mental health unit of Goodmayes Hospital, Redbridge. His death on 7 July 2015 was caused by a failure to remove objects from the communal toilets of Hepworth Ward which he had used to harm himself.
after a old Bailey test, north east London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) was found guilty of failing to ensure the safety of a non-employee. On Tuesday, the trust was fined £565,000, plus £200,000 in costs, over health and safety breaches.
When setting the amount, Judge Richard Marks KC said the trust’s financial position was in “absolutely poor shape” and the fine could impact on services.
Ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa, 54, was convicted of failing to take appropriate care for the health and safety of patients in the ward where Figueiredo was.
Judge Richard Marks Casey sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, plus 300 hours of unpaid work.
The judge described former chief Figueiredo as a “beautiful, vivacious young woman” who was “extremely talented” and had an “extremely charming” personality.
“The circumstances in which he died at such a young age are a terrible tragedy,” he said.
The judge said that access to items in community toilets was a “very serious problem”.
He said: “I have no doubt that there was a complete failure to adequately assess and manage the risk posed by this.”
The judge said temporarily closing the communal area while Figueiredo was in the ward would not have caused any problems other than “inconvenience”.
Judge Marks said Aninaqua also failed to address Ms Figueiredo’s mother’s “key concerns”, which “should raise major alarm bells”.
He told the defendant: “You knew she had committed suicide – she was the only patient on the ward. Your reckless breach of duty continued for weeks.”
The judge took into account the 10-year delay in the case in his decision to suspend Aninakwa’s prison sentence.
Earlier, Figueiredo’s mother and former hospital chaplain, Jane Figueiredo, said in 2015 she was treated with “dismissive contempt, belittling and belittling of her “well-founded” concerns.”
In a victim impact statement, she told the court: “This kind of attitude goes against everything we stand for in patient care in our NHS.”
He told the court that his daughter was not known to fabricate stories about neglecting staff or having an “arbitrary dislike” towards them.
Addressing the ward manager, she told the court: “Mr Aninakwa, what she did not like under your watch in 2015 was that she was being treated by some staff with callousness, callousness, indifference, ignorance, at times even brutality or neglected and left at risk by incompetent staff, some of whom seemed ignorant of their duties and responsibilities, this The fact you often denied.”
She described her daughter as “uniquely beautiful, brave, loving, generous, kind, colourful, creative and a bright soul”.
She said: “The impact of Alice’s untimely, preventable death has been immeasurable on every aspect of my life and our lives as a family.
“There were many other losses after our daughter’s death. In my case, one of the first and main things I lost was my job. I was a hospital chaplain working for NELFT on the rehabilitation wards, a job I loved but after the disastrous way I failed Alice I could obviously never return to that role, even though I had, for example, warned the ward personally on several occasions, including in writing. That she was in danger and her life was in danger.”
He added: “Our pain and suffering was compounded in countless ways by the conduct of the Trust and their fraudulent behavior towards us following Alice’s death.”
Figueiredo was first admitted to the Hepworth ward in May 2012 with diagnoses including non-specific eating disorder and bipolar affective disorder.
During his tenure in the acute psychiatric ward, the Trust failed to remove items from community toilets or keep them closed.
He had used these items to harm himself on at least 10 previous occasions.
However, the court heard about eight further incidents involving similar materials before Figueiredo took his own life.
The suicide attempts were recorded in ward notes and other hospital records.
Aninaqua, who was subject to a performance improvement plan, had failed to remove items that could have been used for self-harm and failed to ensure that incidents of self-harm were recorded, considered and addressed, jurors heard.
Aninaqua and the Trust had denied wrongdoing, but refused to provide evidence.
The investigation into Figueiredo’s death began in 2016, but charges were not filed until September 2023.
NELFT was acquitted of corporate manslaughter, and Aninakwa was found not guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.
The first corporate manslaughter trial against an NHS trust collapsed in 2016 when a judge ruled there was no case to answer.
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans in confidence on 116 123 (UK & ROI), email. jo@samaritans.orgor visit Samaria website to get details of your nearest branch.
If you live in the United States, and you or someone you know needs mental health support right now, call or text 988, or go to 988lifeline.org To access online chat from 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to anyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
If you are in another country then you can go www.befrienders.org To find a helpline near you