West Lane Hospital: Girls' care by criticised trust 'soul-destroying'

Nadia Sharif, Christie Harnett and Emily Moore died within months of each other under the care of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

The families of teenagers who took their own lives under the care of an NHS trust described treatment as "soul-destroying" and "torturous".

A report found failings at Middlesbrough's West Lane Hospital including an environment which "facilitated self-harm".

The independent inquiry followed the deaths of Christie Harnett, Nadia Sharif, both 17, and Emily Moore, 18.

Middlesbrough's MP described the findings as "devastating".

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) apologised and said significant changes had been made.

Tuesday's report found West Lane was "chaotic and unsafe", there was a "consistent failure to put the young people at the heart of care" and young people did not feel confident they were safe.

"Excessive and inappropriate" restraint, it said, was used at the hospital, which provided specialist child and adolescent mental health services, including treatment for eating disorders.

'Blood on walls'

Patients spoke of being treated with a lack of dignity and some verbal interactions were described as judgemental.

The three teenagers took their own lives in an eight-month period up to February 2020 under the trust's care.

Emily Moore's father David said the three teenagers "should still be here today"

Miss Moore's father David said: "You would see patients with huge marks on their heads, cuts on their arms.

"You would even see blood on the walls inside the hospital it was that bad."

His daughter had said staff would swear and belittle her when she self-harmed, he said.

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'Should still be here'

"To be sworn at, not once but numerous times, it's soul-destroying for the patient," Mr Moore added.

"We want those still there to receive better care and for no one to lose their child.

"Those three girls should still be here today".

In text messages, Miss Moore said she believed she would die at West Lane Hospital.

She died in February 2020. She had been in West Lane, but then spent time in another hospital run by a neighbouring trust, before being moved to an adult unit run by Tees, Esk, and Wear Valleys after turning 18.

Her father said he had tried desperately to stop his daughter being moved there.

Tuesday's report was the latest in a series which identified failings.

Christie Harnett's grandmother said her death had left a hole that would never be filled

Christie Harnett's grandmother Casey Tremain said being under the trust's care "must have been torturous".

"It's unimaginable. I just think, those poor girls," she said.

"I promised her I would help. I promised we would get her well, and we didn't.

"I broke my promise."

'Catastrophically failed'

Middlesbrough's Labour MP Andy McDonald has called for an independent judge-led inquiry into the West Lane Hospital deaths and labelled this final report "the most damning and shocking of them all".

He said: "The three previous reports made for dreadful reading about how each and every one of those young women were so badly failed, but this final report reveals just how the entire system - that was supposed to be there to support and protect them - catastrophically and fundamentally failed.

"But we owe it to Christie, Nadia and Emily to leave no stone unturned in making sure we understand the immediate and root causes of what went so badly wrong, that people are held to account and that future mental health care is fit for purpose."