An inquest into the death of a young woman who died after being found unconscious in a psychiatric hospital in Stockport has been rescheduled for the summer.
Lauren Bridges, 20, had been detained at the Priory's Cheadle Royal Hospital before she was found unconscious in a bathroom on February 24 last year - almost 300 miles from her home in Dorset. She was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital and placed on life-support but that was withdrawn and she tragically died on February 26.
An inquest at South Manchester Coroners’ Court was suddenly abandoned last week, when it became clear that it would not be able to be completed in the allocated two-week slot. Coroner Andrew Bridgman discharged the jury before evidence resumed on the scheduled third day.
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At a pre-inquest-review hearing today (Wednesday March 1) Mr Bridgman confirmed that the rescheduled inquest would start on August 7.
The original inquest had been told that Lauren, who had a diagnosis of Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), was transferred from a rehabilitation unit at the Priory's Dorking hospital to a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) at the privately-run Cheadle Priory in July 2021 despite strong objections from her family. By September that year she had improved and was deemed to be 'ready to step down onto an acute unit closer to home.'
However, by February 2022 she was still at the hospital, a six-hour drive from the family home in Dorset, and was demonstrating 'escalating behaviours' and was becoming 'increasingly distressed', it was heard. The hearing was told being 'so far away from home' was an 'ongoing stress' for her.
Giving evidence her mother, Lindsey Bridges, described her daughter as a 'beautiful person inside and out' and said she 'brought so much joy to everyone who loved and knew her.' She said 'significant concerns' about her care at the Cheadle Priory and felt ultimately her daughter had been 'failed by the mental health system.'
The pre-inquest review hearing heard that Lauren had sent a text prior to her death stating that she felt ‘hopeless’. Mr Bridgman said that the rescheduled inquest would ‘consider the question of intent and what was in [Lauren’s] thoughts’.
A further pre-inquest review hearing will be held in the next six weeks but no date has been set.
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