'It shouldn't happen – this should have been routine'

A mental health trust is facing questions over multiple deaths and an alleged 'culture of fear' that medics warn is putting patients at risk

- Michele Paduano and Rebecca Thomas

Adrian Francis walked into hospital in June 2023 as a physically healthy young man. Days later, having been left in an “immobile state”, he was dead.

The 33-year-old, who once represented Britain in sprinting, had been reduced to a catatonic state after health workers at Hallam Street Hospital in West Bromwich apparently pinned him down and forcibly gave him antipsychotic medication.

According to a leaked internal review into his death, Adrian was left “terrified and confused”, became incontinent and had to be washed, dressed and fed with a spoon. Eighteen days later, while still at the hospital, his physical health deteriorated so badly that he collapsed and later died.

The review, seen by The Independent, suggested there had been a series of failings by the Black Country Healthcare Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital. His case, the review warned, “illustrates the underlying systemic issues” at the hospital.

Adrian’s family are now demanding answers. But his case is not the only one at the hospital that has raised questions. Three months earlier, 21-year-old Shannon Lee Jordan died following failures, with an inquest into her death hearing that a healthcare worker at the hospital had failed to keep watch over her every 15 minutes.

The concerns come as The Independent reveals a litany of alleged failings by the trust, including multiple patient deaths, alleged sexual assaults on patients by a staff member, and patients being locked in isolation for days without being monitored.

Senior doctors have alleged their complaints have been “ignored or covered up” by leaders, with medics warning the organisation has a “culture of fear” and “conspiracy of silence” that is leaving patients at risk of further harm.

'Left in an immobile state'