A MENTAL health hospital has been criticised after a paranoid schizophrenic drowned after being left alone in the bath.

Roseberry Park Hospital has apologised for the death of 58-year-old Maureen Sigsworth, who had previously told staff she planned to drown herself.

Ms Sigsworth was admitted to the Middlesbrough hospital in February 2014 for her own safety after cutting her arm at a residential home for people with mental health needs.

She told staff at Roseberry Park she planned to drown herself but, after being given permission to have a bath with a nurse present, she was left alone while the nurse attended to another patient.

When she returned, Ms Sigsworth, who was from Teesside, had drowned.

Her daughter Tracy Owen said an hour earlier Ms Sigsworth had told a hospital psychiatrist she was "only joking" about planning to drown herself, adding: "I'm pregnant with God's child and I'm going to be with my Mam in heaven."

Tracy's elder sister, Dawn Owen, said: "Mam had been in the system for 33 years as someone who was mentally ill and the nurse who left her in the bathroom that night had known her for 25 years. She was totally aware of what mam would do.”

The sisters said no-one had even been suspended after their mother's death.

Represented by Michael W Halsall Solicitors, they took the Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust to court and won a small pay out - but said they felt justice had not been done.

Dawn described her mother as a “bubbly, outgoing” person – but said: "We don’t know what happened that day and I don’t think we ever will.”

Tracy added: “The coroner said that all it would have taken that day to save mam’s life was for someone to use a bit of common sense.

“They said changes will be made but Mam died in February 2014 and the changes didn’t come into place until the following January."

A spokesperson for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are very sorry about Mrs Sigsworth’s tragic death. We understand how distressing this must have been for her family and are pleased that the claim has come to a conclusion. Whilst we can not change what happened we have done everything in our power to prevent anything similar happening again. We offer the family our sincerest best wishes.”