Investigation and inquest
On 12th April 2019 I commenced an investigation into the death of Steven Paul KIRKHAM. The investigation concluded at the end of the inquest on 18th August 2021. The conclusion of the inquest was: Steve Paul Kirkham
████████ At the point in time, it was not clear whether he intended to take his own life.
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Circumstances of the death
Mr Kirkham was an informal resident in Osprey Ward, Swallownest Court, Sheffield having suffered problems with his mental health.
During his stay he was located in a private room with en-suite facilities which had a door for privacy.
A device was fitted to the door by Instastop, which was designed to sound an alarm should any weight be applied to the ████████ and hence highlight staff to the potential of an ████████.
On 30th April 2019 Mr Kirkham used █████████████████████████████████████████ no alarm sounded.
Evidence was heard that the company attended the day following Mr Kirkham’s death and found the alarm to be in working order and identified a “blind spot” ████████████████████
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Coroner’s concerns
(1) It appears that there is a “blind spot” on the ████████ ████████.
(2) I have been informed that, although Swallownest have replaced the doors with an alternative, that these door alarm systems may still be used in a variety of places where vulnerable people are housed. I am concerned that other users of these mechanisms may not have been informed of the potential danger.
(3) I was not given any information with regard to what, if anything, has been done to rectify the “blind spot” area by Instatop and therefore have concerns that other users of the doors may be unaware of the issue.