A County Durham teenager who feared returning to the care of a scandal hit hospital was unable to stay in the place her condition had improved due to a “lack of availability”, a jury has heard.
Emily Moore, 18, from Shildon, was found unresponsive in a bathroom at Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham, run by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Foundation Trust, on February 13, 2020.
An inquest into her death, taking place at Crook Coroners' Court, heard on Tuesday (June 30) how the teenager had previously left TEWV's West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough after being “traumatised” by the care she received there.
In July 2019 , when she was moved to another mental health unit, Ferndene Hospital in Prudhoe, run by the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW), where the jury heard her low mood “significantly improved”.
Her father, David Moore, 57, described the care she received at Ferndene as “chalk and cheese” compared with what she endured at West Lane Hospital.
Dr Cathlene Seller, consultant psychiatrist at Ferndene, said Emily’s “mood and level of engagement improved” during her time at the centre and “provided some hope things could be different for her”.
Dr Seller put this down to the clear structure and timetable, which was “really positive for Emily” and gave her “a sense of consistency”.
The jury heard how during her time at Ferndene, Emily “felt people around her cared enough to ensure her safety”.
She built “positive therapeutic relationships” with staff and was known for being “loved by all the staff and other patients”, with a “bright and kind personality”.
Jurors were told that plans to move Emily from children’s services to adult care began in late 2019 where three options were considered.
Discharge home was agreed to be unsuitable due to several “unsuccessful” home visits as Emily posed too high a risk to her own safety, while a community placement was also ruled out because she was classed as a “high risk” patient.
Dr Seller said the only remaining option was moving her from a children’s ward to an adult ward and said she “wanted to keep Emily under the care of CNTW.”
However, this was not possible due to “no available beds” for an out of area patient.
That meant Emily had to return to the care of TEWV as an adult, at the Tunstall ward at Lanchester Road Hospital, which the court heard was described as “the least worst option available”.
When asked by the family’s barrister Anna Morris KC if Emily would have wanted to leave Ferndene, Dr Seller said: “No, I don’t think it would have been her choice to leave” and recommended “increased one-to-one observation” during her transfer.
The jury heard how Emily’s self-harm behaviours escalated before her move, which Dr Seller believed was “due to the anxieties about moving away from Ferndene and moving to an adult ward”, where she had built strong, trusted relationships with staff and peers.
On her last day at Ferndene, Emily wrote a card to one of the clinical nurses she had built a strong bond with, thanking her for “saving her life multiple times”.
In Emily's card, which was read to the court, she said she started at Ferndene as a “quiet, nervous girl” because of “the trauma [she’d] experienced” at West Lane.
She said she had been “scared” and thought nurses were meant to “tell [her] off for her actions” but added: “You showed me that people do care” and that it “saddens me” to leave.
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Emily turned 18 on February 4, 2020. Two days later, on February 6, she moved to Tunstall ward at Lanchester Road under the care of TEWV.
A week later, on February 13, she was found unconscious in her bathroom. She was taken to hospital and was pronounced dead two days later, at 12.11pm on February 15.
The inquest, before a jury at Crook Coroners Court continues.
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