Jack family question WHSCT

45-year-old Harry Jack’s remains were found two miles from the hospital at Ardmore on November 3, 2006. He had absconded from Altnagelvin on Hallowe’en in the midst of receiving treatment for alcohol withdrawal.

A coroner’s report later determined that a contributory factor in his death was hypothermia.

Mr Jack’s family say they were given assurances after Harry had passed away that staff would be trained in what to do in the event that a patient went Absent Without Leave (AWOL).

However, questions are being asked after documentation obtained by the Londonderry Sentinel as a result of

a separate Freedom of Information request revealed that almost 18 months after Harry Jack’s death the WHSCT still had no plans in place to train its staff as a whole in what to do if a patient went missing.

However the Trust said yesterday that recommendations from the review that followed Mr Jack’s death were in place.

Controversy surrounded the case, with the WHSCT later blaming a “breakdown in communications” for the failure to locate Harry Jack.

The inquest into Mr Jack’s death also concluded that a message to a nurse at the hospital from a member of the public who had spotted him close to a cemetery in an agitated state, had not been passed onto senior medical staff

nor the PSNI who were investigating his disappearance.

A document obtained by the Sentinel, entitled: ‘Review of assessment and management of risk in adult mental health services and social care trusts in Northern Ireland,’ was presented to the WHSCT in March 2008 having been carried out by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA).

Section 3.6.9 of that document deals specifically with AWOL Policy and Procedures. Whilst the RQIA review noted that

the WHSCT received maximum marks in having an AWOL policy, under the section - Training provided to staff on

responding to an absconding/absent patient without leave situation - the Trust scored a minimum mark of one,

on a scale of one to five.

In its findings in this specific section the RQIA review states: “Training has not been provided to staff across all HSC trusts in relation to absent without leave.

“In particular the Western HSC Trust reported in its self-assessment returns, that at the time of the review (March, 2008) it had no plans to provide training in that area.”

Now, the family of Harry Jack have hit out at the WHSCT.

Speaking to the Sentinel , Mehawl Jack , brother of Harry Jack said: “Our feeling was that we trusted what the Trust had told us.

As we were not there on the night it happened we had to assume that what they said was true.”

Harry Jack suffered from alcoholism and had mental difficulties. On the day he absconded from Altnagelvin he had been detained under the Mental Health Order for fear that he may harm himself or others.

His brother Mehawl said: “We are not hiding the fact that Harry had mental difficulties and alcohol problems, but

this has completely thrown our trust in what we were told.”

A letter given to Mr Jack’s sister, Catherine Nixon, by the Western Health and Social Services Board (WHSSB) and dated June 28, 2007, nine months after the death of her brother stated: “In addition you will wish to be confident that a process is firmly in place to ensure that any necessary lessons have been learned and that actions are being taken to improve patient safety.”

In another paragraph the letter states: “In addition it is clear that training must be offered to acute hospital staff with respect to the care and management of inpatients who may experience a wide range of mental health problems.”

Yet, at the time of the review, eight months after Catherine Nixon received the letter from the WHSSB and almost

18 months after the death of Harry Jack, the RQIA noted that no plans were in place at the WHSCT to train staff in dealing with AWOL patients.

Mehawl Jack told the Sentinel: “In a 30 minute meeting with the Trust we were told there would be quicker response times in reacting to situations like this. We were given assurances.

“Now we think they were just paying lip service to us - just washing over the issue and saying what they thought we

wanted to hear.”

In response a spokesman for the WHSCT told the Sentinel: “The review surrounding the death of Mr Jack which focused on adults being cared for in acute settings and not mental health facilities identified areas for improvement. We would like to assure the Jack Family that these recommendations from that review have been put in place.”