Hospital worker accused of causing patient's death

A hospital worker allegedly caused the death of a 22-year-old mentally ill patient after gaining access to materials she had used in previous suicide attempts, a court has heard.

Alice Figueiredo died on July 7, 2015 at Goodmayes Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Redbridge, north-east London.

Benjamin Aninakwa, 53, who denies the allegations against him, was ward manager at Hepworth Ward at Goodmayes Hospital at the time of the alleged offenses.

He is being tried at the Old Bailey alongside the North East London NHS Foundation Trust.

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Mr Aninakwa, of St Francis Way, Grays, Essex, has been charged with gross negligence and manslaughter and failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of patients on the ward, which he denies.

It is alleged that Mr Aninakwa failed to remove items suitable for self-harm from the ward and that he failed to ensure that incidents of self-harm were recorded, accounted for and dealt with.

The North East London NHS Foundation Trust denies corporate manslaughter and failing to ensure the health and safety of non-employees.

It is alleged that the foundation failed to provide satisfactory medical and mental health care and to take appropriate measures to protect Ms. Figueiredo from avoidable self-harm.

The jury was told that Alice took her own life with a garbage bag.

She had already tried to kill herself or harm herself with plastic bags 18 times in the five months she had been there.

However, the court noted that garbage bags continued to be used in common areas.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC said: “During her admission to hospital in 2015, Alice was able to repeatedly attempt to harm herself under close observation by staff, but the incidents were not properly recorded.”

Mr Atkinson added that incident records had not been properly assessed and her access to materials she used to self-harm were not considered or addressed.

The jury concluded that Ms. Figueiredo was a “smart and talented” woman who had been head girl and set up a mentoring system to support her classmates.

Her family described her as someone loved for her “warmth, kindness and cheerful personality”, the court was told.

The jury heard she was first admitted to Hepworth Ward in May 2012 with a diagnosis of non-specific eating disorder and bipolar affective disorder.

The trial is expected to last nine weeks.

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