Jake Baker: Surrey council must act after diabetes death - coroner

Jake Baker died at his family home in Woking in 2019

Concerns a council has not acted after failures contributed to a teenager's death have been raised by a coroner.

Jake Baker, 18, of Woking, who had Type 1 diabetes and learning disabilities, died in 2019 during a visit home.

An inquest found his parents had not been trained to manage his diabetes.

A coroner who found neglect by the authorities contributed to his death, issued a report requiring Surrey County Council (SCC) to act. The council said it would respond to the coroner.

Mr Baker had been in the joint care of SCC since the age of eight, as he needed support for his learning disabilities.

After the age of 18, he was entitled to support as a care leaver.

He had been living in a residential college run by Ruskin Mill Trust Group and had gone home for a Christmas visit when his mother and stepfather mistook their son's fatal diabetic ketoacidosis for a stomach bug.

Assistant coroner Caroline Topping said: "He was not capable of, and had not been trained to, manage diabetes independently if he developed hyperglycemia [raised blood sugar levels] and became unwell.

She said his parents should have been told to get medical help,

'No urgency to improve'

In her Action to Prevent Future Deaths report, she listed failures by the trust and council.

She said Ruskin Mill Trust undertook a review of practices to address concerns, but added: "I am not satisfied that SCC have undertaken a rigorous review of the circumstances of the death, nor that the risk of future deaths has been averted."

Leigh Day partner Anna Moore, the family's lawyer, said SCC had only recently started to look at deficiencies in care and support, adding: "Vulnerable care leavers are being denied necessary support and SCC is showing no urgency to improve."

Clare Curran, SCC cabinet member for children, families and lifelong learning, said: "We have taken a number of actions over the past four years to improve our support for young adults leaving care and we will be responding to the coroner outlining our action plan to prevent future deaths."

Ruskin Mill Trust said it had taken "wide-ranging steps to ensure this kind of incident never happens again".

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