Hospital workers failed to inform colleagues that lady, 12, had tied a ligature around her neck hours earlier than she took her personal life, inquest hears
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Hospital staff failed to inform colleagues that a 12-year-old girl had tied a ligature round her neck hours before she killed herself, an inquest heard today.
Mia Lucas, who had been detained at a specialist children’s psychiatric unit, took her own life by wrapping items around her throat on January 29 last year.
Previously a ‘fun, bubbly girl with a real joy for life’, Mia had been physically healthy and went horse-riding every weekend.
But a few weeks earlier she began hearing voices and becoming ‘irritable and agitated’ after suffering ‘intense’ bullying at school.
After being admitted to hospital where she was assessed as a risk to herself, Mia was sectioned under the Mental Health Act over an ‘acute psychotic episode’.
Today the second day of Mia’s inquest was told she had used an item of bedding as a ligature in a self-harming attempt at 6am on January 29.
But consultant psychiatrist Dr Danielle Lavelle said the incident was not recorded in the 9am handover note when she came on duty.
Mia Lucas, 12, pictured with her mother, Chloe Hayes, 33, who attended her inquest with a knitted doll made from a photograph of her daughter in her horse-riding clothing
Mia Lucas was a ‘joyous, happy girl’, according to her mother, but after starting secondary school suffered ‘intense bullying’ which may have played a part in triggering a sudden ‘psychotic episode’
‘I would expect it to be in the handover notes,’ said Dr Lavelle, who was not made aware of the attempt until after her death.
Later that day Dr Lavelle said Mia talked about an upcoming trip to New York and how she planned to start a nail business in the future.
‘There was no indication she wanted to take her own life,’ said the psychiatrist.
Dr Lavelle was aware of previous incidents of Mia tying ligatures around her neck and expressing desires to ‘go to heaven’ several times, she told Sheffield coroner’s court.
Mia had tied other items around her neck after being admitted to Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham the previous month, the inquest heard.
The schoolgirl, of Arnold, had also self-harmed using colouring pencils.
Medical staff recorded that she told a family member she had ‘found a way to kill herself’.
Tests found no evidence of any physical cause for Mia’s ‘acute psychotic episode’ and she was detained under the Mental Health Act.
Mia Lucas, 12, went horse-riding every weekend, but in 2023 she was admitted to hospital after she started ‘hearing voices’ and became ‘agitated’, tragically dying less than three weeks after being transferred to a specialist unit for treatment
Mia, 12, was assessed for physical conditions after her admission to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham on New Year’s Eve in 2023 but all tests came back negative, an inquest heard
Rachel Rhodes, a clinical lead with Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, helped to assess Mia after she was admitted to QMC on New Year’s Eve.
She told the inquest jury that Mia ‘had fears she was going to harm her siblings and other people.’
The Becton Centre was chosen for Mia’s admission because it was one of the few units that accepted patients aged under 13.
But the facility was struggling to find enough staff to ensure Mia’s needs would be ‘appropriately met’, the inquest heard.
After being transferred to the nine-bed Emerald Lodge on January 9, Mia was placed under close observation.
This meant a member of nursing staff was within arm’s length throughout the day and she was checked regularly in her bedroom.
On January 15 Mia told staff she’d had a nightmare that a man had been strangling her, and nurses saw a red rash around her neck.
Dr Lavelle told the jury that Mia later informed them that she had used her own hands and bedsheets to make the marks.
Mia Lucas, 12, was described by her mother as a ‘fun, bubbly girl with a real joy for life’
On January 18 she pulled out a chunk of hair.
Medical staff advised her to take a shower to calm her down, but when she came out she had an item hanging around her neck.
‘We took that as a sign of her telling us she was still struggling, rather than an attempt to take her own life,’ said Dr Lavelle.
On January 26 Mia again tied something round her neck after becoming angry at not being allowed to use her iPad.
Dr Lavelle told the jury: ‘We felt that was in response to being told “no” and she was cross about it.’
Tragically shortly after 11pm Mia was found unresponsive with bedding around her neck.
She was given CPR and taken to accident and emergency but pronounced dead the next day.
Senior coroner Tanyka Rawden has told jurors that points they would have to consider include the causes of Mia’s changed behaviour, her placement at the Becton Centre and ‘risk assessments around self-harm’.
Mia’s mother, Chloe Hayes, sat in the public gallery listening to proceedings with a number of members of her family.
Ms Hayes has previously described how Mia was interested in singing, drawing, crafts and horse riding, and how she had ambitions to open a beauty salon or become a vet.
The inquest continues.
– For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details
