A London NHS Trust will become the first ever to be tried for the corporate manslaughter of a mental health patient following the death of a 22-year-old woman.
Alice Figueiredo, 22, was staying on an acute psychiatric ward at Goodmayes Hospital in Redbridge when she died on July 7, 2015.
Last year, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced it was charging North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT), which runs the hospital, with corporate manslaughter as well as a health and safety breach.
The ward manager at the time of Alice’s death, Benjamin Aninakwa, will stand trial on the charge of manslaughter by gross negligence and a health and safety breach.
Mr Aninakwa and the Trust have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The trial will open on Tuesday and last for nine weeks.
It is the first time that an NHS Trust has been charged with corporate manslaughter over a death in a mental health unit.
Several successful prosecutions have previously been brought by regulators the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) against NHS trusts and private hospitals in relation to deaths of patients in their care.
