‘I'd rather die than go back there': How a vulnerable teenager was failed by a scandal-hit hospital
'I'd rather die than go back to Huntercombe,' the teenager had warned just hours before her father Mark, dragged her from the icy water near their Berkshire home just after Christmas 2021.
Two months later, Ruth was dead.
The teenager died in hospital two days after having self-harmed when she was left unsupervised at Huntercombe Hospital in Maidenhead, where she should have had constant supervision.
Her death sparked a three-year-long police investigation, which found the agency worker responsible for her care was working under a fake name and had completed just a day or a day and a half of online training before his first shift on the understaffed ward Ruth was on. Police were not able to question the worker, known as Ebo Achempong, as he had fled the country.
Last week, a jury at her inquest made a rare ruling that her death amounted to an unlawful killing after a litany of failings in her care were uncovered at the 10-day hearing.
Ruth, who had an eating disorder, Tourette syndrome and a tic condition, was placed at Huntercombe in October 2021 because her mental health had declined and she required feeding through a tube after refusing to eat.
But while there, she was denied therapy to help her manage the often painful and traumatic tube feeding that kept her alive, she was left without regular access to psychologists and was only allowed to see her family twice a week.
On a much-anticipated trip home for Christmas in 2021, the teenager was happy to be reunited with her family. But she soon became anxious about her return to Huntercombe and protested over being sent back.
The night before she was to return, she self-harmed, and when it was time to leave, she squeezed herself out of a small downstairs toilet window and ran.
Her father, Mark, followed her and watched on, horrified, as she entered the "icy bog", pleading with her to come out.
When she refused, he pulled her out because she was becoming critically hypothermic, her inquest heard.
He carried her back to the house, where the family warmed her up, but when the secure transport finally arrived to take her back to Huntercombe, the situation that unfolded left them 'absolutely broken'.
In a statement read at the inquest, Ruth's mother Kate recounted the horrifying ordeal: 'We had to watch our daughter handcuffed and her legs taped together so that they could restrain her to get her into the transport. Our daughter was screaming throughout the whole ordeal. This was a breaking point for Mark and I.
'It absolutely broke us to see our daughter being treated this way and seeing her so distressed, but there was no other option given to us apart from for her to be sectioned and taken to Huntercombe, as nowhere else could help. We felt helpless. I think that Ruth also felt that she could see no way out of this.'
Ruth's despair at her time spent on the Thames ward at Huntercombe was laid bare further in a handwritten note found after her death.
Addressing it to 'important people', she complained about a lack of therapy for patients like her at the hospital, which she said had an 'unsafe number of staff'.
The note read: 'I don't really know who this is really directed to... Huntercombe, it doesn't deserve a capital H.
'It is the s***test mental health institution you could get... the unsafe number of staff, how the place makes you worse, the staff literally sleep on their shifts. I don't want this to happen to any other patients ever. My suggestion is, shut this place down.'
Eventually, more than a year after Ruth's death, Huntercombe Maidenhead, or Taplow Manor as it was renamed, was shut after a series of investigations by The Independent and Sky News, which revealed allegations of 'systemic abuse'.
Patients sent to Huntercombe Group hospitals revealed how they felt like 'caged animals', with claims they were subjected to painful, bruising restraints, medicated so heavily they felt like 'zombies', and isolated from their families.
Ruling that Ruth's death amounted to 'unlawful killing', jurors said there had been systematic failings not only at Huntercombe but by the NHS mental health system that funded her placement at the private equity-owned hospital.
Clutching Ruth's stuffed Giraffe as they listened to harrowing evidence of their daughter's time at Huntercombe, her parents described how just a few years earlier, she had been happy.
They recounted how their first-born child – a little girl 'with a head of bright red hair' - was a fiery and determined character with a 'huge heart', a 'deep passion for life' and a love of animals and the outdoors.
But in December 2020, she suddenly developed physical and vocal tics, and the family faced an 18-month wait to access specialist care.
In 2021, she developed an eating disorder and by August, she was admitted to Salisbury Hospital before she was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.
Eventually, NHS officials decided she needed to be admitted to a specialist children's mental health unit, and she was taken to Huntercombe.
Her parents told the inquest they felt pressured into agreeing to the move, and were soon 'trapped' in a system that was meant to care for Ruth, but instead 'locked her away and harmed her'.
During her time at the hospital, the vulnerable teenager was allowed unfettered access to her mobile phone, which she was later found to have used to search for methods of self-harm.
Throughout the inquest, multiple staff voiced concerns over short staffing in the unit, with a visibly distressed senior support worker, Michelle Hance, breaking down as she spoke detailed the pressures on workers.
Dr Gillian Combe, a senior NHS doctor working for the Thames Valley provider collaborative, which was responsible for Ruth's admission to Huntercombe, admitted that the NHS did not do enough for the 14-year-old.
She told the inquest the NHS was aware that the hospital was understaffed daily, and that there were concerns over the care it provided, but there were no other suitable choices available. She appeared to make a plea for more money to build the beds it 'desperately needed'.
Standing outside of the Berkshire court room after the inquest concluded, Mark and Kate made a heartfelt plea for Ruth's story to matter: 'Remember Ruth's story. Remember her in the faces of the young people who look to you for help and support.'
'What happened to Ruth is shocking, tragic and harrowing. Whilst there is much more to be said, if change can come from her story, it can make a tangible difference to others.'
In response to the ruling, Active Care Group, formerly known as The Huntercombe Group, said: 'We extend our heartfelt condolences to Ruth's family, friends, and all those affected by her passing. We deeply regret the tragic event that occurred, and we are truly sorry for the distress this has caused and recognise the profound impact it has had on everyone who knew her.'
The group said it was disappointed that a third-party company it had hired had breached its terms of contract, though it did not state what the breach of contract was. It also said it had made improvements to the quality and safety of its services since.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
10 hours ago
- Times
‘Functional beverages' are booming — but is it all hype?
Before you take that magnesium supplement or sit down to meditate, what if a drink could help you relax? Enter 'functional beverages', drinks that claim to possess additional health benefits beyond those of a standard fizzy drink or fruit juice. Functional drinks are surging in popularity, with supermarkets in Britain seeing sales increase by 24.5 per cent in the past year, according to Worldpanel by Numerator. The market research firm also said that almost 30 per cent of UK households now purchase functional drinks. However, Nichola Ludlam-Raine, a dietician with more than 15 years of clinical experience in the NHS, has warned that she 'wouldn't rely on them [functional drinks] for measurable health benefits'. Ludlam-Raine, who now works privately and is the author of How Not to Eat Ultra-Processed , said: 'Functional drinks containing ingredients like CBD [cannabidiol], lion's mane [a type of mushroom], and ashwagandha [a herb typically used in ayurvedic medicine] are part of a growing wellness trend, but the science isn't as strong as the marketing.'
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on regulating cosmetic procedures: rogue operators must be tackled, but aren't the only problem
The enormous popularity of beauty treatments, including dermatological fillers and Botox injections, is not solely an issue for health regulators. Changing norms and aspirations about appearances, and the way that these are marketed mainly to women and girls, are a cultural and economic phenomenon that requires wider consideration. While attitudes to these procedures and aesthetics vary, many people – including some cosmetic surgeons – are concerned that younger women account for a growing share of a highly lucrative and growing market. The death last year of 33-year-old Alice Webb in Gloucestershire, after a non-surgical Brazilian butt lift, as well as multiple reports of injuries, and the deaths of at least 28 women who have travelled to Turkey for cosmetic treatments, have increased the pressure on ministers to tighten the law. Wes Streeting's announcement of new licence requirements for UK businesses, and tighter regulation of higher-risk treatments, is probably overdue. The Chartered Trading Standards Institute recently warned that untrained people have given cosmetic injections in public toilets and hotels. Altering the law in order to exclude such 'rogue operators' ought to make high streets and the internet – where many clinics advertise – safer. Talking about the risks, as the health secretary has been doing, and holding a consultation on proposed changes, may have the beneficial effect of raising awareness even before changes are introduced. But councils will need resources if they are to be expected to enforce new rules by issuing licences, checking premises and so on. As in many other areas of economic activity, the law on its own is unlikely to be enough. Mechanisms are needed to ensure that businesses comply. It is already illegal to administer Botox or dermal fillers to children in England – although, worryingly, it is still allowed in Wales and Scotland. Mr Streeting's announcement that rules regarding children will be tightened further is particularly welcome. Strenuous efforts should be made to place them off limits for the industry as a whole. The reported preoccupation of some children with anti-ageing products is not healthy and should be discouraged. Mr Streeting did not refer to the cost to the NHS if cosmetic procedures go wrong, when announcing plans to tighten the law. But Karin Smyth, one of his ministers, has raised this. And Prof Sir Stephen Powis, who was NHS England's national medical director until last month, made the same point specifically in relation to butt lifts – the cosmetic procedure with the highest death rate of all. Ministers should expect pushback even though many experts, including plastic surgeons, favour tighter rules. The pro-growth mood of the Treasury means proposals for new regulations are unlikely to be smiled upon there. The more restrictive approach being proposed for England will also do nothing to prevent surgical tourism and could even increase it, if tighter regulation of the domestic industry results in higher prices. The gap in safeguards that allows foreign cosmetic surgery providers to market directly to the public needs to be addressed separately, which the government has begun to recognise. There is no single or instant fix. But by cracking down on cowboy operators, ministers will send a message that appearance-altering injections and other invasive treatments must be treated seriously. They are a different order of activity from applying makeup or painting nails. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Times
13 hours ago
- Times
Obese to get soups and shakes diet instead of weight-loss jabs
Low-calorie soups and shakes are to be prescribed to thousands of overweight people in Scotland in an attempt to reduce their dependence on expensive weight-loss drugs and provide longer-lasting health benefits. From January, 3,000 patients who have been newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes will be recruited for a clinical trial. About 300,000 Scots live with type 2 diabetes, a condition commonly linked to obesity, in which badly regulated blood sugar levels can increase the risk of heart disease, kidney disease, strokes or nerve conditions. About 10,000 of them are being treated with weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, with injections costing the NHS £3,000 a year. The estimated annual bill of £30 million is expected to rise as manufacturers raise prices. NHS chiefs believe that not only will the soups and shakes plan be less expensive, it will also bring longer-term health benefits. In the Total Diet Replacement (TDR) plan, to be rolled out over three years, patients who have recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and are deemed eligible will be given low-calorie substitutes for their breakfast, lunch and dinner. The replacement meals, containing a maximum of 900 calories a day, will be delivered to patients for between three and five months. • What to do now Mounjaro's hiking its prices, by an obesity expert After this initial period, normal food will be reintroduced, but with guidance given on healthy meals through online consultations and an app. The ambition is for patients to lose up to 10 per cent of their body weight over a year. Doctors are also optimistic that up to 40 per cent of the trial participants will achieve remission from type 2 diabetes within a year. There are fears that the weight lost through injections — which work by suppressing the appetite — may last only as long as the patient is taking the drug. By contrast, the effects of diet changes should prove more long-lasting and cost effective, NHS officials believe. The TDR scheme is set to cost £5.6 million for 3,000 patients, a one-off cost of about £1,866 per person. Doctors hope the plan will help patients to fundamentally alter their diet and lifestyle. A spokesman for the Scottish government said: 'We anticipate that around 35 to 40 per cent will achieve remission from type 2 diabetes at the end of their first year on the programme, with a majority of patients benefiting from a clinically significant average weight loss of 10 per cent.' This would lead to reductions in blood pressure and contribute to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. He added: 'We will measure impact by the number of patients recruited into this programme, the number who achieve remission and the number with clinically significant weight loss.'
