Lauren Bridges: Cheadle Priory patient, 20, died after delays moving closer to home, inquest finds

The mother of woman says her daughter was 'failed' and has called for lessons to be learned after an inquest jury said there were 'missed opportunities' to move her closer to home.Lauren Bridges, 20, died whilst a patient at the Priory's Cheadle Royal Hospital near Stockport, a six-hour drive from where her family live in Bournemouth, Dorset.In February 2022, she was found unconscious in her en-suite bathroom on the psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) at the hospital where she had been detained for seven months.She was rushed to Wythenshawe hospital but died two days later.After an inquest lasting four weeks, a jury today ruled she did not intend to take her own life and recorded a conclusion of misadventure.They said her desire to be closer to home was a 'consistent theme' during her treatment at the facility and incidents of self-harm were a 'cry for help due to a lack of family contact'.

They also said there were missed opportunities to find Lauren Bridges a bed closer to home.

The foreperson said there were beds available in Bournemouth for more than half of the days of Lauren's admission, but that she was 'not actively considered' for them.Dorset HealthCare, the NHS trust that commissioned Lauren's stay at the Priory Cheadle, has admitted that there were shortcomings in their systems in place to bring residents being treated out of area back closer to homeThe jury's findings bring to an end Lauren's family's long wait for answers after a previous inquest, which began in February, had to be abandoned after three days due to issues over court time.In a statement issued following today's hearing, her mother Lindsey Bridges paid tribute to her daughter, who dreamed of going to university and becoming a doctor or a nurse, saying she 'gave so much joy and happiness to everyone who knew her'.She also said that sending mental health patients hundreds of miles away from home to receive treatment does not work.She said vital changes were needed in the way people with autism and mental illness, particularly young women, are cared for and vowed to continue fighting for a 'better mental health system'. “Lauren was the most beautiful person inside and out and I am so proud she was my daughter," Ms Bridges said."We were always making plans for her and her future. Lauren was excited to get back into education."She was kind and considerate and wanted to help others by becoming a nurse or a doctor. Despite her challenges she worked so hard to be heard, to be understood and get home."However, we are left feeling that when Lauren needed help the most, she was let down."Lauren initially went into hospital voluntarily aged 17."It is a reflection of our mental health system that she never came home for good. Lauren was moved from one out-of-area hospital to hospital to another, getting worse and worse over time."Our concerns and Lauren’s requests to come home were ignored. Lauren gave so much joy and happiness to everyone who knew her."We’d do anything to still have Lauren with us."We thank the jury for returning a verdict of misadventure and for recognising the failings in Lauren’s care."Lauren didn’t want to die - she was desperate to escape a hospital that was making her mental health worse."She wanted to return home to her family and get better. Our lawyers had to fight hard to get these answers through the legal process."We hope that lessons will be learned from how Lauren was horribly failed.

"It is vital that changes are made to how people with mental illnesses and autistic people, particularly younger women, are cared for.“The system we currently have isn’t equipped to deal with our most vulnerable."We are devastated to learn that there were available local beds before Lauren was moved so far away and that there were opportunities missed to bring her home."We believe that Lauren would still be with us if she had been brought closer to home.“Mental illness doesn’t discriminate; it can affect anyone."Everyone needs to receive the best possible care and support to get back home to their families.We will continue to fight for justice for Lauren and for a better mental health system.”

Alexander Terry, an expert public law and human rights lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, who represents the family, said: “Lindsey and her family remain devastated by Lauren’s tragic death and the events surrounding it.“The last four weeks listening to the evidence has been incredibly upsetting for them but they have displayed incredible strength and fought for the answers that they as a family, and Lauren, deserve.“Lauren’s family believed there to have been significant failings in Lauren’s care. Sadly, the inquest has validated those concerns and identified multi-agency failings.“Lauren was placed in a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Priory Cheadle Royal over 260 miles away from her family and her home."She was moved there against her will and against the express wishes of her family, who tried to challenge that decision."Separating Lauren from her family had a devastating impact on her mental health."The jury has heard evidence that Lauren suffered harm as a result of her prolonged admission after she had been considered ready to move on for several months.“Dorset Healthcare have admitted shortcomings in its systems for recording the identity and relevant circumstances of its out-of-area patients, and in its processes for assessing those patients for repatriation to Dorset. As a result, there were missed opportunities to bring Lauren home.“The jury found that there were available local beds in July 2021 that were not offered to Lauren, which would have been more suitable.The jury also concluded that Lauren was not actively considered for local beds between October 2021 and February 2022.“By the time of her death, Lauren had been at Cheadle Royal for over seven months and she had been an out-of-area patient for over 500 days."She was desperate to be closer to home and this was known to everyone involved.The family welcome the jury’s finding that the cause of Lauren’s death was misadventure, contributed to by a number of failings."Lauren’s discharge was delayed and communication between the various agencies was inadequate.The jury has heard how this contributed to the decline in Lauren’s mental health. While nothing can ever make up for Lauren’s death it is now vital that lessons are learned.Lauren’s death highlights the enormous impact of out-of-area mental health care and the detrimental effect this can have on vulnerable patients.“More broadly, the evidence heard in this inquest raises serious issues about national and regional mental healthcare resources, including in Dorset, and the inadequacy of the Trust’s systems for considering the repatriation of out-of-area patients.“Despite previous government pledges to reduce the number of autistic and learning-disabled people in hospital settings and the number of out-of-area patients, we continue to see many people in inappropriate mental health environments, often a long way from home and awaiting discharge for an excessively long time.We will continue to support Lauren’s family and do all we can to help them obtain justice.”A spokesperson for Dorset HealthCare said: “Our deepest sympathies go to Lauren’s family and friends for their terrible loss. We can’t imagine their pain and grief.“We have listened very carefully to all the evidence presented at this inquest and fully accept that the systems we had in place to bring people back to Dorset and closer to home were not what they should have been at the time of Lauren’s death."We profoundly regret that we could not respond to Lauren’s need to be nearer to her home and her family.Our priority is to address the issues related to Lauren’s tragic and untimely death.”A Priory spokesperson said: “The unexpected death of a young adult is devastating and we would like to express our sincere condolences to Lauren’s family."We fully support all initiatives for patients to be treated closer to home and our criteria for admitting patients is based on the nearest available bed."Our hospital teams work hard to ensure patients can be discharged safely and at the earliest opportunity."Since Lauren’s sad death, we have put in place a stronger and more proactive process for patients whose discharge from hospital is delayed, to improve communications and escalate issues more quickly with the commissioners and NHS home services responsible for securing the patient’s next placement."We continue to invest in making our wards safer and have fitted all our psychiatric intensive care units with fabric ‘anti-ligature’ en-suite bathroom doors.“We will now reflect on the jury’s findings and work openly with the NHS, commissioners and regulators to ensure any further learnings are put into practice.We remain committed to providing safe and effective care to our patients.”.