Staff slept while patient killed at NHS mental health unit

Staff falsified records, slept and were on their phones on the night one patient was killed by another on an NHS mental health unit in east London, an inquest has heard.

Hugo Flint-Cahan, 34, was being treated at Newham Mental Health Centre (NMHC), run by the East London NHS Trust (ELFT), when he was fatally attacked by 22-year-old Rolando Torres-Pena.

Hugo's family say they have been shocked by the "dangerous" failures in his care.

The Trust told the coroner they had addressed some of the issues raised in the inquest, and are launching an investigation into the staff whose failings have been identified.

In a narrative conclusion, the coroner found Hugo was unlawfully killed which was contributed to by neglect, recommended four members of staff be referred to their regulator and that the Metropolitan police review their investigation into what happened that night.

Hugo, who had been a patient at the NHMC for six months, was strangled in the early hours of 3 January 2023 by Torres-Pena who had arrived on the ward five days earlier.

Torres-Pena pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He was given a hospital order without time limit .

A coroner criticised repeated failures by the Trust in a number of patient deaths - not just Hugo's.