Staff in 'impossible position' before resident's suicide at Blackpool care home - with everyday item now banned to stop more tragedies

Alan Wilson voiced his concern after paranoid schizophrenic Tina Murray killed herself using an everyday item that was widely available at the Belgravia Care Home on the Prom.

The item, which we are not naming to prevent further deaths, was known to pose a threat to Ms Murray, 59, who was originally from London and unmarried.

But she still managed to get hold of one from another resident's bedroom before being found unresponsive on her bed at around 11.50am on Wednesday, January 8 last year.

Carers tried CPR on Ms Murray, who was then taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital by paramedics before being declared dead at 1.38pm the same day.

Mr Wilson said Ms Murray was not a detained patient at the home, which specialises in looking after people with mental health conditions and learning disabilities, but did live there.

"She was able to move around within the home and not confined to her room," he said in a report written to prevent future deaths, which was sent to the home, local health bosses, and the industry watchdog Care Quality Commission (CQC).

"In around June 2019, care staff witnessed Tina to be in possession of [an everyday item] and to infer that she may use the [item] to harm herself.

"Staff were concerned about this, and indeed it was established at the inquest that care staff were reminded about this concern over subsequent months.

"However, I found that Tina had been able to access [the item] from within the care home.

"Evidence was received on the basis that the [item] used by Tina had most likely been obtained from inside one of ... the rooms of other residents."

Mr Wilson continued: "It appeared to me that, should a resident be intent on locating [an item] from within the home they would be able to do so, and in Tina's case with fatal consequences.

"Care staff were in my view placed in an impossible situation whereby, on the one hand had they been reminded that Tina gaining access to [the item] may be a concern, given [the items] were accessible within the building the risk posed to Tina could not be guarded against."

The home did not respond to a request for a comment but said in a letter to Mr Wilson it has now removed the item from all residents' bedrooms and largely banned them from the home entirely.

"Individual robust risk assessments have been put into place with the residents at risk of suicidal tendencies," said a letter from the manager, whose name was redacted but is listed as Pagan Louise Squibb on the CQC's website.

Proprietors Margaret and Martin Gregory co-signed the letter, which added: "The timetable for this action is immediate and has already been put into place."

At its last routine inspection in 2018, the Belgravia was rated 'good' by the CQC, which said: "The service was safe.

"The service had procedures in place to protect people from abuse and unsafe care."

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