Shrewsbury health staff are criticised over drowned patient
Health staff have been criticised for failing to report a man missing from a mental health ward for three hours on the day he was found drowned in the River Severn.
The sister of David Long questioned NHS workers on the first day of his inquest. Mr Long, 62, was found dead in the water between Monkmoor and Atcham in Shrewsbury, on January 10.
His sister Joan Lloyd says more checks should have been made and said he had absconded from The Redwoods Centre in Shrewsbury twice in the three months prior to his death.
He was detained as a patient in Pine Ward under the Mental Health Act in October last year and had battled with chronic schizophrenia for 40 years, the inquest heard.
The body of Mr Long, who previously lived in Westgate, Bridgnorth, and before then with his mother on Greenfields Crescent in Shifnal, was discovered after a two-hour rescue operation. The jury was told how Mr Long was not reported missing by Pine Ward staff for three hours and 12 minutes after he was last seen walking towards his bedroom by nurse assistant Sherry Ann Manantan at 4pm.
Shropshire Coroner Mr John Ellery said he had left the ward and then walked out of the grounds that day before ending up in the River Severn.
Witness Thomas Mansell, the nurse-in-charge at Pine Ward, had granted Mr Long leave to wander the grounds that afternoon after he had returned from the hairdressers.
He said that hourly checks should be made on patients and while Mr Long had last been seen at 4pm in the ward staff had not ventured outside to check he was inside the grounds, which are not enclosed.
It was not until the 6pm check that staff realised he was missing, they later conducted a search of the ward and grounds and alerted police at 7.12pm.
His sister Mrs Lloyd said: "Someone should have checked where David was. These checks should have been made."
The jury was retiring today to consider its verdict.
