HEALTH chiefs have requested urgent action after a teenager was found hanged at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.

The death of 19-year-old Damion Price was blamed on a communications breakdown between mental health experts and hospital staff. The training given to some employees was also criticised.

The findings were in a draft report to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority, which monitors the performance of NHS trusts.

It requested the report, which was produced by a panel of experts led by Professor Martin Severs of Portsmouth University, after Mr Price's death on October 23.

The report said Mr Price was receiving treatment at the main hospital for self-inflicted wounds. Although he had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act, the report said RHCH staff did not think he was suicidal.

The document criticised the lack of communication between the hospital, which is managed by the Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust, and mental health experts at the Hampshire Partnership Trust.

It said the two trusts should stop using separate criteria for assessing patients prone to self-harm, and improve their communication.

Board members approved all 17 changes proposed in the draft report.

Martin Barkley, chief executive of the Hampshire Partnership Trust, offered the trust's sympathy to Mr Price's family.

A spokesman for the Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust said it would not comment until the inquest into Mr Price's death had taken place.