Coroner demands admissions review

    A coroner has called on a mental health trust to rewrite its
    admissions policy following the suicide of a man who was being
    assessed for possible sectioning.

    Geoffrey Peake threw himself into the River Thames and drowned
    after walking out of St Thomas’ Hospital, London, during the
    assessment, an inquest was told.

    The Westminster coroner, Dr Paul Knapman, said it should have been
    obvious to hospital staff that police wanted Peake detained under
    the Mental Health Act 1983.

    He had been taken to the hospital in handcuffs after trying to
    slash his own throat upon discovering that he was HIV positive, the
    court heard.

    PC Steven Bogidi said that he had stressed to hospital staff that
    Peake was a “risk to himself and others”, and expected him to be
    sectioned.

    But Dr Gavin McKay who assessed Peake said the police had told a
    colleague that he was not a Section 136 case.

    Dr Knapman criticised the South London and Maudsley Mental Health
    Trust, and urged that its admissions policy be rewritten to include
    the recommended choices and actions open to doctors.

    More from Community Care

    Comments are closed.