Death of teenager at mental health hospital was unlawful

The death of a teenager who fatally self-harmed at a scandal-hit mental health hospital after being left unsupervised by a worker using a fake ID was unlawful, an inquest jury has ruled.

- By REBECCA THOMAS, HEALTH CORRESPONDENT

Ruth Szymankiewicz, 14, died on 14 February 2022 following a litany of failings at Huntercombe Hospital, also called Taplow Manor, near Maidenhead, where she required constant one-to-one observation, Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court heard.

In the 15 minutes she was unsupervised, Ruth, who had an eating disorder, Tourette syndrome and a tic condition, which had affected her mental health, made her way to her room, where she self-harmed. She was found and resuscitated before being transferred to John Radcliffe Hospital, where she died two days later.

Huntercombe Hospital was closed in 2023 after investigations by The Independent revealed accusations of systemic abuse against patients, with claims from families that children were “treated like animals”.

During Ruth’s inquest, it was revealed that the careworker responsible for monitoring her was working under a fake ID and had completed just a day or a day and a half of online training before his first shift. Police were not able to question him following her death as he had fled the country.

Uncovering a string of failings in her care, the inquest heard that the ward Ruth was on was “severely short-staffed” and missing “at least half” of its workers on the day she self-harmed, the inquest heard.

In a note written by the teenager before her death, which was read aloud in court, Ruth, who had to be force-fed daily through a tube and often had to be restrained by staff, criticised the lack of therapy available for patients at the hospital, which she said had an “unsafe number of staff”.