Mother warned of ward fatalities, court told

Alice Figueiredo died at Goodmayes Hospital in 2015

The mother of a young woman who died in a psychiatric hospital had warned staff that there would be a “fatality on the ward” weeks before she died, a court heard.

Alice Figueiredo, 22, died at Goodmayes Hospital, a mental health facility in Redbridge, north-east London, on 7 July 2015.

Benjamin Aninakwa, 53, who denies the charges of gross misconduct, was ward manager of Hepworth Ward at Goodmayes Hospital at the time of the alleged offences.

He faces trial at the Old Bailey alongside the North East London NHS Foundation Trust, which denies corporate manslaughter.

This article contains material that some may find distressing.

The court heard that on 16 May 2015, Jane Figueiredo, wrote to her daughter’s psychiatrist, warning about a series of incidents where she had been able to harm herself, despite being on constant observations.

“If staff are complacent or careless in this way and don't carry out level three observations of a suicidal patient with diligence, it's only a matter of time before there will be a fatality on the ward,” she said.

The court heard that level three observations meant that staff had a patient in eyesight 24 hours a day.

Seven weeks after the email was written, on the 7 July, Alice took her own life.

Alice Figueiredo was a mental health patient at Goodmayes Hospital in Redbridge

Duncan Atkinson KC for the prosecution told the jury there were many missed opportunities to take steps to prevent what happened to her.

He detailed 18 incidents where Alice had been able to get hold of bin liners to harm herself, prior to the one that killed her.

The jury heard that these incidents were often not recorded in the hospital incident log called Datix and were inconsistently recorded in the observations log called RiO.

Mr Atkinson said that this meant when professionals were making decisions about Alice’s care, they did not have a complete picture of her condition.

It also meant that despite Alice’s numerous attempts to harm herself using bin liners, they were not entirely removed from the unit.

The jury was told that ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa had said he had asked staff to remove plastic bin bags from the ward, but that was overruled by senior management.

But Mr Atkinson KC told the court that no evidence has been found to back this up.

The trial continues.

If you've been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.