Hayley Smith: Anorexia 'complications' caused death, inquest finds

Hayley Smith was being treated for severe anorexia nervosa at The White House clinic in Ipswich

A woman died from complications caused by an eating disorder, an inquest jury has concluded.

Hayley Smith, 27, from Sturry, near Canterbury, Kent, died at the Medway Maritime Hospital four days after Christmas in 2019.

Ms Smith had been receiving treatment for anorexia nervosa at a specialist clinic in Ipswich, Suffolk.

The jury said the clinic provided "insufficient and inadequate information" to support a visit home.

The hearing at the Shepway Centre in Maidstone was told Ms Smith was being treated at The White House, a specialist residential eating disorder clinic, but while on leave visiting family in Kent she suffered a cardiac arrest on Christmas Day in 2019 and died four days later.

The inquest was held at the Shepway Centre in Maidstone

The inquest heard Ms Smith had not had a blood test for three months before she died on 29 December.

Dr Ty Glover, consultant psychiatrist who was appearing as an expert witness, told the hearing "they didn't know how poorly she was" and said a failure to take blood tests had contributed to her death.

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The inquest also heard that the failure of a nurse to contact on-call psychiatric services for Ms Smith on Christmas Eve had not contributed to her death.

In its conclusion, the jury said that when Ms Smith was sent home for Christmas from the specialist clinic "insufficient and inadequate information was provided to Hayley and her family to support her home visit" from the White House clinic.

The jury concluded Ms Smith had died after having a cardiac arrest and severe hypoglycaemia - both complications of anorexia nervosa.

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