A woman whose daughter killed herself in a “Death of Death” Mental Health Ward in London is calling for an immediate change of half a million pounds.
Alice Figeireo, 22, took her own life at Good Hospital, Redbridge, after 18 similar attempts.
His death on 7 July 2015 followed a failure to remove plastic items from Hepworth Ward’s self-use communal toilets, the court was told.
On Tuesday, the North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) was fined £565,000 plus £200,000 in costs following health and safety breach charges.
In setting the value, Judge Richard Marks KC judged its finances to be in a “totally parlous state” and a huge positive impact on services.
Benjamin Aninakwa, 54, a ward manager, was convicted of failing to take care of the health and safety of patients at Farueireo ward. He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 12 months, plus 300 hours without pay.
Speaking outside the old Bailey, Jane Figueireo said her daughter woke up in a “death trap” which was “a death waiting to happen”.
Instead of being given the “compassion, care and support” she needed, Alice “failed to decay and experienced a trap of failures that crushed her spirit and killed her life”, he said.
Faruedo added that her daughter’s pleas for help were not taken seriously and were “always shut down, silenced”. He said: “The people behind the locked doors of the health wards are the few that are seen and heard by the people of our communities and society. And their voices are easily dismissed,
In his televised sentencing, Marcs described Alice as a “beautiful, passionate young woman” who was “talented” and had an “attractive personality.” He added: “His death at such a young age in the circumstances in which it happened is a terrible tragedy.”
The judge said that access to plastic in communal toilets was a “serious problem”, adding: “I have no doubt that there was a huge failure to identify and manage the risk that this was created.”
Keeping the communal area temporarily locked while Alice was in the ward would not have amounted to a “nuisance”, the judgment said. Marks added that Aninakwa also failed to address Alice’s mother’s “huge concerns” that there should be “big alarm bells”.
He told the defendant: “You know he’s suicidal – he’s the only patient on the ward who.” The judge took into account the 10-year delay in the case in his decision to suspend Aninakwa’s sentence.
Alice was first admitted to Warto Ward in May 2012 with diagnoses including non-specific eating disorder and bipolar disorder. During his time in the acute psychiatric ward, the trust failed to remove plastic items from the communal toilets or continue the investigated suicide attempts.
Aninakwa, who was subject to a performance improvement plan, also failed to ensure incidents of self-harm were recorded, considered and addressed, jurors heard. The trust and Aninakwa, in the grays of Essex, denied wrongdoing but refused to give evidence.
The investigation of the deceased in Faroe