The family of one of three teenage girls who took her own lives at a mental health clinic described as “chaotic and unsafe” in a report has spoken of his horror.
Christie Harnett, 17, Nadia Sharif, 17, and Emily Moore, 18, died during an eight-month period up to February 2020 whilst under the care of the NHS.
A 121-page independent inquiry into Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) and made a number of shocking revelations and highlighted red flags missed by health chiefs.
It found Middlesbrough’s West Lane Hospital - which has now reopened under a new name - was unsafe and a “consistent failure to put the young people at the heart of care".
Christie, who was diagnosed with anorexia and had been under the watch of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), was the first of teenagers to kill herself in 2019.
Her father Michael told Sun Online of his daughter: “All of the girls would have had 21sts. They should still be here, from the beginning, we started the fight for it never to happen again.
“Emily, Nadia, Christie, everyone that’s died and everyone that’s still in their care. We’ve had the worst happen.”
“Nothing is ever going to bring Christie back. There needs to be a public inquiry."
Christie had been a “looked-after” child, who suffered complex mental health needs as well as autism.
She died on 27 June, 2019, after taking her own life and had been in the Newberry Centre of West Lane Hospital.
Less than six weeks after that, Nadia, who had been an inpatient at the Westwood Centre, also died.
The report identified 26 care delivery problems, and 20 service delivery problems in her care across a number of agencies.
Emily had been an inpatient at the Newberry Centre until July 2019, when she was moved, ending up in an adult acute ward in February 2020 when she turned 18. She would take her own life one week later.
TEWV said they were “deeply sorry” for the events that “contributed” to the deaths of the three girls.
The report spoke to former patients, their parents, members of staff, and the families of the three teens who died.
It highlighted a swathe of failings including one incident in November 2018 in which 33 members of staff were removed from duty after a review of CCTV footage of restraints found a shocking number of incidents of “inappropriate restraint”.
This included three patients being dragged along the floor.
The handling of this issue by the unit’s board and TEWV created an environment described as “chaos”.
There were then nine months described as a “deteriorating spiral of poor care” until the Care Quality Commission issued a closure notice in August 2019.
In response to the report, David Jennings, chair of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We would like to reiterate how deeply sorry we are for the events that contributed to the deaths of Christie, Nadia and Emily.
“Brent Kilmurray, our chief executive, and I have met each of the young women’s families to apologise to them in person. I thank them for allowing us to do that. I cannot begin to imagine how painful it has been for them.
“This report covers a period of time where it was abundantly clear there were shortfalls in both care and leadership. Over the last three years, how we care for people, how we involve patients, families and carers, and our leadership and governance structure have changed significantly.
“We will continue to work hard to make sure we deliver safe and kind care to the people we support, as they have every right to expect.”
The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.
