Hospital 'neglect' contributed to death of young mum who went missing from Sussex mental health unit

Thirty-two-year-old Rachel Jones became an inpatient at Langley Green Hospital’s Coral Ward in Crawley in April 2022 and was later found dead after going missing from the unit on May 6.

An inquest into the Crawley mum-of-one’s death heard that Rachel was struck by a train at Goffs Lane Footbridge in West Green, Crawley.

Following her death, Rachel’s family instructed expert medical negligence lawyers Irwin Mitchell to help secure answers and support them through the inquest.

Senior coroner Penelope Schofield recorded a narrative conclusion that Rachel took her own life, however, her death was ‘contributed to by neglect.’

She stated there had been ‘failures’ by the hospital to notify the nurse in charge when Rachel returned to the ward on May 6 asking for money, whereby she should have been reassessed by the nurse in respect of a period of requested leave.

There was also a failure to check on Rachel’s whereabouts and follow the AWOL policy when she hadn’t returned after 15 minutes. Ms Schofield recorded that it was ‘probable’ these ‘contributed to’ Rachel’s death.

She added there were also ‘missed opportunities’ by the hospital that ‘may have contributed to’ Rachel’s death. These were to ‘respond appropriately’ to a report on May 5 that Rachel intended to take her own life on discharge and also to update the risk assessment with concerns following events of May 5.