Trust guilty of neglect over suicide woman

A Grieving family today accused a health trust of failing to care for their vulnerable daughter, who committed suicide.

Caroline Baynes killed herself at a mediumsecure mental health unit on the

Chase Farm Hospital site despite the fact she was supposed to be checked by staff every 15 minutes.

An inquest found the 38-year-old former civil servant was not properly checked for hours. Her parents Beryl and Michael today accuse Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust of treating her as a " second class citizen". Mrs Baynes, 68, from Enfield, said : "The trust let our daughter-down badly. If everything had worked as it should, then this would not have happened but the failure to properly watch her was only the final one she suffered.

"The conditions Caroline had to live in were cramped and often filthy. We called the cubicles she was given horse boxes, they were so bad.

"On several occasions she was given the wrong medication. Once she went missing and was found on a station platform two miles away, preparing to jump under a train.

"Our daughter was not the only patient to suffer. The whole mental health system is a mess."

Mr Baynes, 72, added: " Caroline was a independent woman with a long-term relationship, a healthy sense of humour and a family who loved her.

"The fact she suffered from

mental health problems does not lessen the value of her life." Mr and Mrs Baynes decided to speak out after it emerged a second patient had taken her own life while being cared for by the trust.

Miss Baynes, who had a history of attempting to take her own life, suffocated herself with a plastic bag in July 2003.

Staff only found her body when she did not get up in the morning, by which time rigor mortis had set in.

But the day after the inquest last month - when the jury found her death might have been prevented - staff at the Enfield unit discovered 58-yearold Beverley Purcell had also committed suicide while in their care.

Police are investigating the death but it is not thought Ms Purcell, of Palmers Green, was under an observation regime when she was found hanged.

Mrs Baynes said: "We had been assured by the trust it had put in measures to prevent in-patient suicides."

Clinical negligence solicitor David Kerry, for Miss Baynes's family, said: "For at least a portion of the night nobody checked she was breathing. It appears nurses simply popped their heads around the door."

The inquest jury stated: "Established procedures do not appear to have been adhered to. Had procedures been implemented in a timely manner the outcome may have been different."

The trust, given the lowest possible rating for its suicide rate by the Health Commission, fired the nurse in charge on the night of Miss Baynes's death and has tightened up its supervision practices.

A spokeswoman said: "The trust has met with Mrs Baynes's family to discuss their concerns.

"However, we will meet them to resolve any further complaints."