Daughter's inquest wait compounding parents' grief

John and Victoria Powell said the wait for an inquest for their daughter Jessica was taking too long

The parents of a 20-year-woman who died on a psychiatric ward have said waiting more than two years for her inquest has only added to their grief.

Jessica Powell died in August 2020 when she was an in-patient at Rowan Ward, Summerlands Hospital in Yeovil.

Her father John Powell said: "We still have no closure to this and we are still living in agony."

The government said it had given funding to authorities, including coroners, to recover from the pandemic.

"We have provided £6.16bn to help local authorities' services, including coroners, recover from the pandemic," a spokesperson said.

Mr Powell has been told all inquest bookings were filled until June 2023 and he feared it could be almost three years before the hearing takes places.

Victoria Powell said her daughter "had a really good sense of humour when she was well"

Jessica died after a long illness suffering with mental health.

She tried to take her own life aged 13 and was eventually diagnosed with emotionally unstable borderline personality when she was 18.

Her mother Victoria Powell said the change in her behaviour was dramatic: "She had a really good sense of humour when she was well. When she wasn't well it was awful."

'Worst thing'

Between stays in secure units as far away as Manchester and Norwich, the longest period of time she was able to live locally was for seven months, her parents said.

"The worst thing we ever did was to put her in these places because as the years went by all she did was learn new ideas how to hurt herself and when she used to come home there was never anything in place for her in Somerset," Mr Powell said.

Jessica was in crisis when she was admitted to Yeovil District Hospital's A&E in August 2020.

She was then transferred as an in-patient to Rowan Ward at Summerlands Hospital for a few days before she was found in a critical state by staff.

Mr Powell said late one night, Jessica did not come out of her room for her medications.

"They (the hospital staff) went to her room and she wasn't there. She managed to get into that room and tried to squeeze out a 10cm gap in the window and she got trapped between her waist and her chest and that's where they found her."

Jessica was admitted to intensive care where she was treated for oxygen starvation but died in intensive care a few days later.

Her parents said they were dismayed to be told it would be at least summer 2023 before a jury inquest could be held.

The coroner will not comment to the BBC, but has apologised to Jessica's parents and said that due to the pandemic the service was unable to progress anything for 18 months other than the immediate Covid-related hearings.

Figures provided by the Ministry of Justice

• The number of inquests open for more than two years has more than tripled in England and Wales since 2017

• In 2017, 378 inquests had been open for more than two years, representing about 4% of the total number open

• By 2021, that had risen to 1,366 inquests which had been open for more than two years - or about 8% of the inquests opened

• Across the West of England, more than nine times as many inquests were open for more than two years in 2021, compared to five years earlier.

The campaign charity Inquest has described the current situation as a postcode lottery, with large variations in waits.

Rosanna Ellul, senior policy and parliamentary officer, said: "Whilst Covid has definitely exacerbated the issue of delays in the system, this is a problem that pre-exists the epidemic, and it's partly down to the fact the inquest system is a postcode lottery.

"And when justice is delayed it's denied."

Mr Powell said he was concerned lessons were not being learned quickly enough by mental health professionals.

"We still have no closure to this and we are still living in agony because - we want this out of the way so we can put our point of view across so we can say we don't want this to happen to another family because what we have been through has been horrendous.

"I think it's compounded our grief - we're now in a bit of purgatory where we've grieved to a certain extent, but we can't carry on with our lives as best we can until a line is drawn under it."

Somerset NHS Trust has carried out an investigation to fully understand what happened and to determine what immediate actions are required.

A spokesperson for Somerset County Council said: "There are delays nationally in coroner cases which have been made longer by the Covid pandemic.

"This is understandably upsetting for those who have lost their loved ones.

"The coroner is working through those cases in order, as quickly and sensitively as possible. The Chief Coroner is fully aware of this approach."