Mental health patient was able to harm herself while on 24/7 watch

SOPHIE HAD INSERTED PART OF A PEN INTO AN OPEN LEG WOUND

- By JOSEPH CONNOLLY

A MENTAL health patient was able to harm herself despite being on 24/7 watch, an inquest has heard.

Sophie Towle was in her bed on Fir Ward, at Sherwood Oaks Hospital in Mansfield, run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, when she caused an injury to a preexisting leg wound on May 12, 2024.

She died two weeks later from a blood clot in her lung, brought on partly by immobility she suffered due to the pain in her leg after the incident.

On Monday's sitting of the inquest at Nottingham Coroner's Court, assistant coroner Alexandra Pountney heard evidence from staff at Sherwood Oaks on the day Sophie was able to hurt herself.

The 22-year-old, from Mapperley, had been at Sherwood Oaks for around two weeks, after being transferred back to the facility from a hospital in Doncaster on April 25, 2024.

On the afternoon of May 12, she left her room to go to the nurse's office, to ask for two of her restricted items - a pen and a crossword book - so she could do puzzles. The items were restricted as they could be used for self-harm.

Sophie had a history of self harming by inserting items into her leg wound, which had been open for a number of months.

In her evidence, nurse Whitney Levy, who gave Sophie the book and pen, told the inquest she weighed this up as a “positive and appropriate risk”. Ms Levy said Sophie had told her she felt safe with the items, and that she would prefer to do the crossword in her room as opposed to the communal area due to her feeling uncomfortable with other patients on the ward, which Ms Levy accepted.