One of England's biggest mental health trusts, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, is now under fire after one of their mental health patients from 2013 drowned and died from an epileptic seizure and was found by the CQC (Care Quality Commission) to be partially caused by neglect. After Mr. Connor Sparrowhawk, 18, was found unresponsive in the bath an immediate investigation was launched and an independent report said that there was a "failure of leadership" in the trust.
CQC's deputy chief inspector of hospitals Dr. Paul Lelliott said that, in order to take good care of patients with mental health issues, a "significant improvement" should be made.
"We found longstanding risks to patients, arising from the physical environment, that had not been dealt with effectively. The Trust's internal governance arrangements to learn from serious incidents or investigations were not good enough, meaning that opportunities to minimise further risks to patients were lost," Dr. Paul Lelliott added.
Amid reports pertaining to the neglectful act of many of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust's patients, trust executive Katrina Percy rejected calls of her resignation. She said that she had been "clear and open" about the improvement the trust needed.
"Good progress has been made, however we accept that the CQC feels that in some areas we have not acted swiftly enough. My main priority is, and always has been, the safety of our patients. We take the CQC's concerns extremely seriously and have taken a number of further actions," Katrina Percy said.
However, from what the CQC has gathered following the neglect that caused Mr. Connor Sparrowhawk's death, there have been no significant changes in the trusts governance of their mental health patients.
Connor Sparrowhawk's mother also commented that the trust has been claiming that they have improved after the death of her son. However, clearly from the reports of patient death in the trust, there has been no improvement at all.
Meanwhile, Dan Scorer of learning disability charity Mencap said the CQC warning notice showed little had changed since the independent report was published.
