Parent's heartbreak after 'bubbly' daughter found unresponsive in bedroom at mental health hospital just weeks into her stay
20.05.2024 - 18:47
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
The parents of a woman who ‘brought light and laughter’ to the lives of all who knew her have told of the devastation of losing their daughter just weeks into her stay at a mental health hospital.
Leah Taylor, 20, from Urmston was admitted to Eleanor Hospital in West Didsbury on May 24 last year and detained under Section three of the Mental Health Act, a jury inquest into her death at Manchester Coroner’s Court heard.
Less than a month later, in the early hours of June 17, she was found unresponsive in her bedroom and tragically pronounced dead by paramedics. At the time Leah was being monitored four times an hour by staff.
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On the first day of the inquest into her death on Monday (May 20) coroner Zak Golombeck told the jury that one of the issues he wanted the jury to focus on was whether Leah should have been placed on constant one-to-one observations in the period leading up to her death.
In a summary of the case he told the jury there had been ‘multiple incidents’ of deliberate self harm involving Leah during her stay at Eleanor Hospital, including eight incidents on the day before her death.
Eleanor hospital, run by Equilibrium Healthcare, provides care for women who have been diagnosed with a personality disorder or mental illness.
In 2022 Eleanor Hospital was rated 'inadequate' following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in May of that year and placed in special measures.
Following an inspection on June 20, 2023, three days after Leah’s death, the service was again rated ‘inadequate’.
Paying tribute to their daughter previously, parents Paul and Helen described her as ‘bubbly’ and said she was