21.08.17
Risk assessments not carried out before teenager’s death at Southern Health
Regular risk assessments were not carried out by the psychiatrist responsible for Connor Sparrowhawk when the teenager died in 2013, a tribunal has today found.
Sparrowhawk, who was epileptic and had autism and learning difficulties died whilst being cared for at Slade House, a residential care unit run by Southern Health – who are now facing legal action from the CQC over its safe care failings.
He tragically died after drowning in a bath tub, and now the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) has stated that the psychiatrist responsible for caring for him, Dr Valerie Murphy, failed to carry out appropriate risk assessments.
“The tribunal determined that as a Consultant Psychiatrist at Slade House, you had a duty to conduct and record risk assessments and that they were ultimately your responsibility,” the findings read.
“In considering all those parts of the allegation where it is said that you ‘failed’ to take a particular course of action, the tribunal interpreted failure in this context as meaning that you had not done something when there was a duty or requirement to do so, either generally, or at the point of the particular time referred to in a specific paragraph of the allegation.”
Dr Murphy, who now works in Cork, Ireland, was also found to have not made suitable assessments of the patient’s mental state, and did not make comprehensive notes about his history, something she admitted to.
In total, Dr Murphy admitted 28 failings, with the MPTS finding an additional nine failings, and 18 not proved.
The MPTS also stated that through the hearing, the tribunal detected “evasive answers” and “defensive responses” from the psychiatrist, who relinquished her license to practice in the UK in 2014.
“It appeared to the tribunal that you have accepted more responsibility for your actions now than you did at the time of the death of Patient A or in any other inquiries,” the tribunal also stated.
“You also now acknowledged that you had the ultimate responsibility for matters concerning Patient A’s care both when he was detained under Section 2 Mental Health Act (‘MCA’) and then when he was an informal patient at Slade House.”
Dr Murphy also accepted that she did not consider the implications of letting Sparrowhawk bathe alone, even though he was checked on by staff every 15 minutes.
She now faces a sanction at a later hearing. At present, the dates are Sunday 5 and Monday 6 November, Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 November.
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