A support worker with a false identity who left a vulnerable 14-year-old girl unwatched in a secure psychiatric ward during his first shift had never worked in a hospital before, the teenager’s inquest has heard.
Following the death of Ruth Szymankiewicz, police found the support worker had “stolen” the false identity, had a fake passport and was able to get the shift at the hospital through an agency after brief training.
CCTV footage played to the inquest jury on Tuesday appeared to show Ruth going into her room at Huntercombe hospital in Maidenhead, Berkshire, and closing the door, though she was supposed to be under 1:1 observation.
The footage suggested Ruth was left alone and unobserved in her room for 15 minutes. There was no sign of the support worker. While in her room, Ruth is believed to have carried out an act of self-harm that led to her death. After 15 minutes another staff member went into her room and raised the alarm.
Sgt Francesca Keen of Thames Valley police told the inquest that the support worker tasked with watching Ruth at that time arrived in the UK about three months before and stole the name Ebo Acheampong from a “completely innocent man”.
He signed up with a healthcare recruitment agency called Platinum. Keen said: “They felt they had checked his ID and were dealing with a legitimate person.”
The inquest heard his training consisted of a day or day-and-a-half course, much of which was e-learning. The day after completing his training, he was given what Keen said was his “first and only shift” at Huntercombe and in the evening was put in charge of watching Ruth, who had a serious eating disorder.
Keen was asked if there was anything to suggest he had worked at any other hospital before. She replied: “No.”
The officer said the worker had claimed he left Ruth alone to help with another emergency nearby. But the CCTV footage played in court showed no evidence of this.
Five days later, the man flew from the UK to Ghana via Heathrow. The officer said police now knew his true identity but did not have evidence to charge him and he could not be extradited.
Ruth’s parents, Kate and Mark Szymankiewicz, a GP and a consultant surgeon, have strongly criticised the standard of care at Huntercombe, which was run by the company Active Care Group and has now closed. They are also critical that Ruth was being detained more than 70 miles from their home in Wiltshire.
In a statement read out in court, Mark Szymankiewicz said he felt Ruth was “in limbo” – Huntercombe was not an appropriate place for her but there was nowhere else for her to go.
The jury heard an extract from Ruth’s notebook in which she claimed there was “non-existent” therapy at the hospital and said staff slept on their shift. She described it as the “shittest mental institution”.
Ruth’s parents are concerned she had unchecked access to her mobile phone. The inquest was told that in the weeks before her death she did research on methods of suicide and how many calories were in food including eggs, slices of toast and cereal.
The hearing at Buckinghamshire coroner’s court continues.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
