Patient found hanged at criticised hospital

Mother-of-two Tina Richardson was found hanging at Barnsley's Kendray Hospital and died last week. She had been admitted after threatening to throw herself off a bridge.

Last month an inquest jury in Sheffield which returned a suicide

verdict on another Kendray Hospital patient Dale Rodgers, 21, criticised the hospital's Oakwell unit for lack of supervision.

Just a fortnight before Mr Rodgers died, another patient at the unit, Michael Wells, 60, died after stepping in front of a lorry after escaping from an unlocked taxi while being escorted to Barnsley Hospital.

Miss Richardson, who has a son and a daughter and lived in Hoyland, near Barnsley, was admitted to the Oakwell Centre on April 30.

Police are investigating the death.

A spokesman for NHS Barnsley which runs the Kendray Hospital said: "Our thoughts are with the family of Miss Richardson following the tragic events of last week.

"Every effort is made by staff at the Oakwell Centre to ensure patient safety and frequent checks are always carried out appropriate to the needs of individuals in our care."

An inquiry was carried out by the health authorities in July 2008 following the two earlier deaths.

Mr Wells was also being treated after attempting to kill himself. Hiswife Ann Wells said afterwards that he should have been transferred by ambulance, and not in a taxi with a female escort.

Mr Rodgers climbed a fence and lay in front of a train after he was told he could not go home.

The inquest jury last month also criticised his access to an garden at the Oakwell unit. The hospital has now made security improvements.