AN autistic woman who was 'driven to her death' following a wrong diagnosis did not receive a 'care plan' and suffered from a 'lack of understanding' of her autism, an inquest today heard.

Zoe Zaremba died aged 25 in June 2020 and her body was found in undergrowth around a mile from her home in Aiskew Bedale following a six day search by police.

Jean Zaremba, Zoe’s mother, told assistant North Yorkshire coroner John Broadbridge at the inquest that her daughter was diagnosed with autism at 16 but, under the care of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust, she was later diagnosed with having borderline personality disorder.

Ms Zaremba said this 'ultimately drive Zoe to her death; and she 'couldn’t live with the diagnosis'.

The inquest heard that an independent review, commissioned by the NHS Trust, found that there was no active care plan in place for Zoe and that she faced a limited understanding of her autism.

Independent review author Philip Robertson told the inquest that Zoe’s 'reluctance to accept any elected secondary care from the mental health team' had contributed to the lack of care plan.

He said: “There wasn’t what I would class as being an active care plan, and that was complicated by, at that period of time, Zoe’s reluctance to accept any elected secondary care from the mental health team."

As a result, Zoe also did not have an active care coordinator, something that Mr Robertson says would have made support for Zoe from the service “very challenging”.

He said: “Her care wouldn’t be motivated, it would mean that it was more reactive than proactive, and in relation to the ability to move forward in relation to supporting individuals through the recovery process, would be very challenging for services.

“As well as not being able to manage risk, not having a care plan would have a detrimental affect on that."

The inquest also heard that there was a “limited understanding” of autism by those involved in Zoe’s case at the Trust.

Many staff had struggled with Zoe’s processing delay, which was a slower response to stimuli, and therefore believed she was being “difficult, hostile and challenging.”

The coroner confirmed that the reported stated that although there were layers of support for Zoe, but they “were not coordinated in any way.”

The inquest previously heard how the 25-year-old could “not live in a world full of liars” according to her mam.

She added: “I will never recover from losing Zoe it is a waste of a wonderful life.”

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust, said that it accepted all the findings and recommendations in the independent review, and that training was under way with the trust working through an action plan.

The inquest continues.

------

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated North Yorkshire Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054