Girl's death after hospital failings ruled unlawful

Ruth Szymankiewicz "was and still is deeply loved", her parents told the jury last week

A 14-year-old girl left alone to self-harm at a mental health hospital when she should have been under constant supervision was unlawfully killed, an inquest jury has concluded.

Ruth Szymankiewicz had been observed by a staff member on his first shift who had fake papers at Huntercombe Hospital, near Maidenhead, Berkshire, on 12 February 2022.

But Ruth, from Salisbury, was left unaccompanied for about 15 minutes and able to walk around the hospital for young people and to her room.

It was there that she was found unconscious shortly afterwards. She died at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford two days later.

She was being treated for an eating disorder when she was moved to the failing hospital, which has since shut down, from October 2021.

It was rated inadequate and later requirements improvement in two separate inspections by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2021.

More than half of the staff working on Ruth's ward were absent when the staff member was drafted in from another ward to watch her.

The man, known to the hospital as Ebo Acheampong, had got his job there with false papers and had never worked in a psychiatric hospital before that day.

CCTV footage showed him leaving the TV room, where he had been sitting with Ruth, before she eventually left it and went to her bedroom at about 20:00 GMT.

Acheampong fled the UK following the incident and returned to Ghana, where he is understood to have come from.

He was hired by the Active Care Group, which ran the hospital, from the Platinum agency. Thames Valley Police investigated but did not prosecute.

'Locked her away'

The jury found factors that contributed to Ruth's death included insufficient training of staff and that her care was "not suitable nor conducive" to helping her recovery.

She was also not prevented from watching "harmful material" online. Visiting arrangements in which only one family member could visit her at any time was another contributing factor.

Her parents, Kate and Mark Szymankiewicz, a GP and surgeon respectively, made a statement outside Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court in Beaconsfield following the jury's conclusion.

Mr Szymankiewicz said his daughter was an "incredible, bright, friendly, loving and adventurous girl with a whole life of joy ahead of her".

He added: "When at our most vulnerable as a family we reached out for help.

"We ultimately found ourselves trapped in a system that was meant to care for her, to help her, to keep her safe and instead locked her away and harmed her."

Ruth's mum added: "There is an empty space at our table, a silent bedroom in our home and a gaping hole in our family that will never be filled."

Her parents said they hope sharing her story will "help inform the change needed in children's mental health services".

Huntercombe Hospital has since closed down

Jodie Anderson, from INQUEST, which helped Ruth's family, said the jury's findings were a "stark indictment" of those services.

"We must urgently confront the privatisation of children's mental health, where professional inertia and a lack of accountability continue to place young lives at risk," she added.

Active Care Group said it was "disappointed" that the recruitment agency failed to detect Acheampong's fake papers and that it no longer works with it following Ruth's death.

"We deeply regret the tragic event that occurred, and we are truly sorry for the distress this has caused and recognise the profound impact it has had on everyone who knew her," it added.

It said it has made "significant improvements to the quality and safety in all of our services".