Trinity Inquest barrister, Abigail Cheetham, represented Miss Chelsea Blue Louise Mooney’s family at an Article 2 inquest, to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death on 12th April 2021. Abigail was instructed by Mr Iftikhar Manzoor of Hudgells Solicitors.
Miss Mooney was detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 at Cygnet Hospital in Sheffield. At the time of her passing in April 2021, the staff at Cygnet Hospital were required to complete intermittent observations of Miss Mooney to confirm ‘signs of life’ six times an hour. On 10th April 2021, the staff at Cygnet Hospital were two minutes and 32 seconds late to complete the prescribed observation. Miss Mooney was found to have self-harmed and suffered a cardiac arrest, she was later taken to hospital and sadly became deceased on 12th April 2021.
The CCTV footage was a critical piece of evidence within the inquest, which showed the corridor outside Miss Mooney’s bedroom. The CCTV footage confirmed the precise timing of the observations by staff and the times that staff retrieved equipment for the emergency response.
Coroner Abigail Combes provided the jury with a detailed questionnaire containing 53 questions surrounding Miss Mooney’s care leading to, and including, the 10th April 2021. The jury provided critical responses within that questionnaire and a narrative conclusion to state, ‘as a result of insufficient care, crucially inadequate observations and the delays in emergency response, this led to her unexpected death two days later on 12th April 2021 in the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield.’
This matter has been widely reported on local news channels, including https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2022-03-25/familys-heartbreak-at-hospital-failings-that-led-to-death-of-teenager.
Commenting on the Inquest, Abigail Cheetham said:
‘It was a privilege to represent Miss Mooney’s family within this deeply sad case to investigate the circumstances leading to her death on 12th April 2021. The records disclosed within this inquest contained disturbing instances of serious self-harm, many of which were repeated occurrences whilst Miss Mooney was on arm's length or intermittent observations by staff.
Cygnet Hospital have 56 days to provide a detailed response to the Coroner, Ms Combes, who sought further information regarding the safeguarding for delays to intermittent observations, the emergency response training for staff and the number of instances of self-harm within Cygnet Hospital. The information provided may lead to a Regulation 28 report to prevent future deaths. It is hoped that the findings made by the jury will lead to changes to prevent a reoccurrence of the tragic circumstances leading to Miss Mooney’s death.’