Mädchen, das von Agenturarbeitern in der psychiatrischen Einheit nicht nachgelassen wurde, wurde rechtswidrig getöt
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/14/ruth-szymankiewicz-unlawfully-killed-psychiatric-unit-inquest-finds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Von topotaul
8 Kommentare
A shelf replenisher in your nearest supermarket will have had more training and diligence on id checking than an agency mental health nurse from this company. RIP you poor girl.
> During the inquest it emerged that the worker, who went under the stolen identity Ebo Acheampong, had never worked at any hospital before the day he was put in charge of observing Ruth and did not receive an induction before his shift.
> The jury in Beaconsfield heard that the ward Ruth was on was habitually severely short-staffed and relied heavily on temporary agency staff like Acheampong.
One of the many consequences of cutting our public services to the bone. We’ve gutted the number of actual staff at these facilities, and made them entirely dependent on agency staff (who likely end up costing even more to actually hire, given that the facility have to pay both the wages of the staff member *and* the overheads of whatever agency is hiring them out) who are poorly trained and give no shits about the actual job they’re doing (because they’ll be in another facility the next week anyway).
> Ruth’s parents, Kate and Mark Szymankiewicz, a GP and a consultant surgeon, claimed at the inquest that Ruth never received the therapeutic care she needed.
> They were devastated that the unit was more than 70 miles from their Wiltshire home, leaving Ruth isolated and desperate. The couple also expressed concern that Ruth had unfettered access to her mobile phone and was able to research suicide.
Just more consequences of cuts upon cuts upon cuts. Not enough facilities, and no access to necessary treatments for those in them.
It’s was the right verdict for a preventable death.
Unfortunately, instances of institutional neglect is far too common in private mental health settings, for this not to warrant further government scrutiny.
There should be a national inquiry into how many private treatment centres view mental health patient’s as a cash cow. They will charge extortionate fees to the NHS whilst under-staffing and paying them a minimum wage.
The issue with agency staff is that many see the job as ‚easy‘, that they just need to turn up regardless of whether they are truly present, and actually do any work.
So, you’ll often find agency staff working 24hours in a row, just to collect their pay check, falling asleep whilst they should be watching their patients, or failing to interact with them in any therapeutic way. This is why incidents frequently occur.
Interesting reading: [https://www.nhsforsale.info/private-providers/medacs-copy/](https://www.nhsforsale.info/private-providers/medacs-copy/) Barely solvent healthcare company hands out millions in bonuses to directors while patients die from cost cutting and poor management.
Common british psychiatric/ vulnerable person care generally unit W.
So, reading between the lines, is this what happened?:
* Untrained member of staff told to supervise girl
* Girl wanders off and commits suicide by some method 15 mins later.
If so, it’s unfortunate, but not exactly the same scale as when a patient dies because a surgeon takes out the wrong kidney, which happens all the time and never makes the news.
> The worker, who used a false identity, left Ruth Szymankiewicz alone even though she had complex mental health issues and was judged to need constant watching because she was a suicide risk.
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> it emerged that the worker, who went under the stolen identity Ebo Acheampong, had never worked at any hospital before the day he was put in charge of observing Ruth and did not receive an induction before his shift.
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> The inquest heard that after learning that Ruth had died, the worker known as Acheampong fled from the UK to Ghana. Thames Valley police said they knew his real identity but did not have enough evidence to try to get him back.
These are the foreigners that are „keeping the NHS afloat“
Without saying too much I work in effectively the same environment and to say that we will hire literally fucking anyone actually surprises me on a monthly basis by how the next person manages to cock up worst than the last.