Hospital trust fined £500k over death of patient Alice Figueiredo

A hospital trust has been fined more than £500,000 and a ward manager given a six-month suspended sentence over the death of a 22-year-old woman on a mental health unit.

Alice Figueiredo was being treated at Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford when she took her own life using bin bags from a shared toilet, having previously made many similar attempts.

The North-East London Foundation NHS Trust (NELFT), which runs the hospital, and ward manager Benjamin Aninakwa, 53, were convicted of health and safety offences in June when an Old Bailey jury found they did not do enough to prevent Ms Figueiredo’s death.

NELFT was fined £565,000 and Aninakwa must also complete 300 hours of unpaid community service.

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The hospital had previously acknowledged the risk to patients of keeping bin bags on the ward and they were subsequently taken out of patient bedrooms.

However, despite warnings from Ms Figueiredo’s family, they were not removed from the communal toilet, which was left unlocked.

The Old Bailey judge, Richard Marks KC, described the former head girl as a “beautiful vibrant young woman” who was “hugely talented” and had an “extremely” attractive personality.

He said: “Her death at such a young age in the circumstances in which it occurred is a terrible tragedy.”

He added that there had been a “complete failure to adequately assess and manage the risk” of keeping bin bags in the toilet cubicle.

Judge Marks also said Aninakwa had failed to address “major concerns” of Alice’s mother which should have “rung major alarm bells”.

And he said it was “lamentable” that previous self-harm attempts by Ms Figueiredo were not recorded.

Addressing Aninakwa, Mr Marks said: “Whilst you regret Alice’s death you have no real insight into what you did wrong.

“I find the fact you clearly remain in a state of denial very troubling.”

Aninakwa, who still works at NELFT, has said he plans to appeal against his conviction of failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of patients.

Earlier, Ms Figueiredo’s mother Jane Figueiredo said the family had been treated with “dismissive contempt, belittling and playing down” their “well-founded” concerns about her daughter’s care.

In a victim impact statement, she told the court: “Such attitudes go against everything patient care stands for in our NHS.”

She said her daughter had been treated by some staff with “unkindness, harshness, indifference, ignorance, even at times cruelty”.

She described her daughter as a “uniquely beautiful, brave, affectionate generous, kind, colourful, creative and luminous spirit”.

She said: “The impact of Alice’s untimely, preventable death on every aspect of my life and our life as a family has been immeasurable.”

Chief executive of the trust, Paul Calaminus, told the BBC that following the sentencing, he had written to the Figueiredo family to arrange a personal apology.

He said NEFLT was “deeply sorry, both Alice’s untimely death and for everything that her family and friends have had to endure over the last decade”.

He added a “huge amount” of work had been done to improve patient care, but he warned that the fine may impact on services.

Ms Figueiredo was first admitted to the Hepworth Ward in May 2012 with a diagnosis including non-specific eating disorder and bipolar affective disorder.

During her time on the acute psychiatric ward, the trust failed to remove plastic items from the communal toilets or keep them locked.

She had used plastic from the toilets to self-harm on at least 10 previous occasions.

However, the court heard of eight more incidents involving similar materials before Ms Figueiredo took her own life.

The investigation into Ms Figueiredo’s death began in 2016, but charges were not brought until September 2023.

Following the seven-month trial, the trust was cleared of the more serious charge of corporate manslaughter, while Aninakwa was cleared of gross negligence manslaughter.

In addition to the fine, the trust has been ordered to pay £200,000 in costs.