Sussex NHS Mental Health Trust criticised over killings by patients

Sussex Mental Health Trust has been criticised in a review, over its failure to take action on patients who posed a risk to society.

The review examined 10 killings over eight years which were linked to Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust patients between 2007 and 2015.

The review was launched following the stabbing and murder of Donal Lock, 79 by Matthew Daley in 2015, had been a patient of the Trust at the time. It found that killings by Kayden Smith in 2012 and Roger Goswell in 2007 had been ‘preventable’ and ‘predictable’.

The independent review was commissioned by the Trust and NHS England and found that in several cases, the process to assess patients was ‘inadequate’ and ‘the risk posed by the service user went unrecognised or was severely underestimated’.

In some cases, ‘risk assessments were not completed or were completed incorrectly’.

The report said: "Some diagnoses are incorrect and remained unchanged in the face of the service user's behaviour. Sometimes service users made threats to kill others but no further action, for example informing the police or warning the person threatened, was taken."

It added: "If the service user had been assessed as high risk, then a management plan would have been triggered."

Colm Donaghy, chief executive of the Trust, offered his ‘sincere apology and condolences’ to families affected by the deaths.

He said: "This review sends us a strong message about the need to identify and embed learning when things go wrong in a way that changes clinical practice and behaviour."

Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said: "We are pleased that these steps are being taken to deal with the families who have been so often disregarded and who experienced obstacles in finding out the truth."