A MENTAL health patient was able to commit suicide because of mistakes by hospital staff, an inquest jury has ruled.

Severely depressed grandmother Mary Conduct was wrongly allowed to leave the Royal South Hants Hospital, in Southampton, where she was supposed to have been detained for her own safety.

Health bosses have admitted errors were made and have apologised to her family for the tragedy.

Mrs Conduct slipped away by signing out as a day centre user, even though she was an inpatient. An agency reception worker on his first day even opened the locked doors for her.

About three hours later police pulled her body from the River Itchen after a bus driver raised the alarm when he spotted a pair of shoes on Itchen Bridge.

The hearing, in Southampton, was told Mrs Conduct was rescued from the bridge by police about three months earlier amid fears that she would jump off.

The Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust, which runs the hospital's department of psychiatry, launched an internal review after she died and has now carried out an overhaul of its procedures.

The inquest jury ruled that Mrs Conduct, of Denmead Road, Harefield, took her own life while the risk of her doing so was recognised but appropriate precautions were not taken to prevent it.

Her family said in a statement read out at the hearing: "Due to the errors at the hospital she was allowed to leave a secure unit in which we all felt she would get the help we all knew she so desperately needed. These errors all contributed to the death of a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a sister."

They said afterwards: "We are pleased the jury reached what we believe to be the correct verdict."

The family added that they would consider legal action against the Trust at a later date.

Mrs Conduct was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in January this year and ordered to stay on the ward over the weekend. However, on the Monday, care workers said she could go to other facilities on site.

She was able to slip away when she told staff she was going to the therapy unit. Instead she went to reception and signed out.

They only realised she had left when police phoned to say they had found her body on January 27.

A post-mortem revealed Mrs Conduct had drowned.

TRUST STATEMENT:

Andy Clapper, acting chief executive of Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust, issued a statement after the inquest.

It said: "I offer my sincere sympathy on behalf of the trust to Mr Conduct, his family and friends, and pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of staff who have also been deeply affected by this tragedy.

"We will take on board the comments made by the coroner regarding aspects of Mrs Conduct's care and use them to ensure we achieve the high standards of care we are continually working towards.

"We also welcome the coroner's comments about staff on the ward whose dedication to helping people with mental ill health should not be overlooked.

"But clearly there were aspects of Mrs Conduct's care that fell below these high standards and for this we offer a full apology.

"I can provide an assurance to Mrs Conduct's family and friends, and the wider public, that we are in no way complacent. We have already conducted a full review into the procedures and circumstances leading to this tragedy. From this a number of lessons concerning security arrangements were identified.

"Action was promptly taken to address these including stricter security arrangements for both the hospital reception and patients moving within the hospital.

"This action took into account the needs of all patients for appropriate and therapeutic care.

"We are determined to make certain that we have learnt everything we can from this tragedy."