Investigation and inquest
On 29 September 2014 I commenced an investigation into the death of Angela Catherine Brealey, aged 57 years. The investigation concluded at the end of the Inquest on 22 December 2015. The conclusion of the inquest was that Angela Brealey hanged herself while suffering severe depression with psychotic ideas.
Circumstances of the death
Angela Brealey was found dead in her home on 19 September 2014. She had hanged herself. She was in receipt of treatment from local secondary psychiatric services although no full assessment of her condition had been carried out by a Consultant Psychiatrist.
Coroner’s concerns
(1) At the Inquest I heard various evidence about what should happen to information received from third parties concerning a person receiving treatment from the Trust. This does feature in the action plan prepared following the Inquest but I think the process should be looked at on quite a wide basis. Should information received from a third party be acknowledged at all? If so, how? How much of lengthy communications received from third parties should be recorded? Is entry on the RIO medical notes sufficient in itself? How is patient confidentiality protected in these circumstances and what about circumstances where third parties request confidentiality for information they have provided?
(2) During the period that Angela was receiving assistance from the Trust there is minimal evidence of a multi-disciplinary team being involved.
Predominantly one community mental health nurse took responsibility. While it may not have affected the outcome in this case a team approach involving a number of professionals may have been preferable. Is this something that the Trust needs to look at?
(3) Generally the serious incident review process is a very helpful one. In this particular case however a number of concerns about Angela’s treatment were not picked up by the review. Is pressure on those carrying out this process reducing the effectiveness of the reports?