Parents' tribute to daughter who ended her fight with anorexia
An inquest into the death of Pippa “Pip” McManus, 15, concluded this afternoon.
It found that she was formally an inpatient at the Priory Hospital Altrincham at the time of her death on December 9, 2015.
During the inquest the Priory said hers was one of the most severe cases of Anorexia they had seen.
The jury found that her death was a suicide, with the following contributory factors:
Inadequate community care and specialist post-discharge support for Pip and her family.
Failure to implement a timely care plan and lack of cohesiveness amongst agencies.
Inadequate communication of enhanced risk of suicide on discharge.
Pip's parents have issued this statement following the inquest:
Pip's death has highlighted the issue of young people's mental health. Deborah Coles, Director of INQUEST, said: "Pip’s death has exposed a mental health system which pushed through the discharge of a highly vulnerable child without any of the support or care in place to make sure she would be safe. Her terrified family knew there was huge risk. Their concerns were dismissed and minimised throughout.
"INQUEST holds serious and ongoing concerns over the continuing lack of scrutiny and oversight of young deaths in mental health care. The Government has a moral and legal duty to ensure the safety of our children. Ministers must meet now with affected families to inform the urgent and necessary reform of the current system, to prevent further tragic deaths.”
A spokesperson for the Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We accept the findings of the inquest into Miss McManus’ death. We deeply regret any shortcomings which occurred in this case and would like to offer our apologies and sincere condolences to the family.
“In line with our commitment to providing safe and effective service, immediately following the incident an investigation was undertaken.
“We will take on board learning from the inquest to ensure we further improve our services.”