Trust's investigation into teen death 'was lacking'

INQUEST HEARS BOSSES FAILED TO SPEAK TO ALL MENTAL HEALTH STAFF

- HELENA VESTY

A HEALTH trust's investigation into the death of a teenager has been slammed as 'lacking' after bosses failed to speak to all staff members working on the ward at the time when the 17-year-old was fatally injured there.

Charlie Millers, a trans boy, died five days after he was found unresponsive in his room on mental health unit Junction 17 at the site of the former Prestwich Hospital, run by Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust (GMMH) on the evening of December 2, 2020.

Mental health unit managers were also told to audit observations being done on patients staying on wards after fears they were not being done - only for those audits to also go uncompleted, an inquest has heard.

The audit programme followed concerns in October 2020 that those regular checks, where patients are observed a set number of times an hour in accordance with their condition, were not accurate or simply not being done. But it was later found that the 'there was no evidence' some of the audits themselves were ever done.