Mia, from Arnold, was just 12 years old when she died after a stay at a children’s mental health centre in Sheffield
Mia Lucas(Image: Chloe Hayes)
Staff at a specialist children’s mental health centre in Sheffield were not told a girl had tied a ligature around her neck hours before she took her own life, an inquest heard.
It was one of four known times Mia Lucas, from Arnold, tied a ligature around her neck while she was treated at Emerald Lodge in Becton Centre, Sheffield, Yorkshire Live reports.
The 12-year-old girl, who loved horse-riding and singing, was found unresponsive in her room at the centre on January 29, 2023, before being pronounced dead the following day.
Dr Fran Porter-Young, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Emerald Lodge, told Sheffield Coroner’s Court on Wednesday, November 19, that she was not informed by overnight staff in a morning handover that Mia had tied a ligature around her neck in the early hours of January 29.
Dr Porter-Young said that had the team known about it, “a conversation would have been had” about how they handled the situation, but she cannot “give you an accurate answer about what we might have done differently”.
She said Mia repeatedly hit a window that morning and was “quite frustrated and irritable”.
She said Mia had a “low tolerance for getting frustrated”, but that she settled throughout the day, and staff were not as worried about her in the evening.
Mia was transferred to Emerald Lodge on January 9 from Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham.
During her three weeks there, she tied ligatures around her neck on three other occasions, two in the first week she was there and again on January 26 after she was banned from using an iPad. She also pulled a clump of hair out of her head.
Dr Porter-Young said Mia had “tied something quite loosely and brought that to staff whilst she was very upset and confused” and that she “wanted help from staff” in the first two incidents.
She said: “Mia was trying to communicate her distress. It was really difficult for her to communicate how much she was struggling in words because her speech was disorganised.”
Dr Rachel Horn, clinical psychologist at the centre, said the incidents were “in the moment” as it would have been very difficult for Mia to have planned something and hold onto that.
Dr Horn said: “They were very in the moment and fleeting. She would be very cross with someone in one moment, and then wanted to talk to them.
“It was that sudden for Mia, and I don’t think she would be able to hold onto information and carry through an intention over a period of time.”
Dr Horn said Mia was very changeable. Mia once had a conversation with Dr Horn in her office, but after she got angry and stormed out of the room, she spat at the window in the door. Around 30 seconds later, she returned and said she was hungry.
When transferred to Emerald Lodge, Mia was initially given one-to-one observations, meaning staff would follow her and regularly check in on her.
She was also observed once an hour overnight. But these observations disrupted Mia, who complained of being followed.
She became aggressive towards the staff and swore at them. She was also struggling to sleep and staff were primarily focusing on settling her in a new environment.
Dr Horn told Senior Coroner Tanyka Rawden it was her suggestion to try and reduce the level of observation over a weekend when fewer children were at the centre.
One-to-one observations were subsequently changed to a 15-minute routine.
Earlier in the inquest, a jury of 11 members heard how Mia had been rushed to QMC on December 31 after her grandmother became concerned for her well-being.
Mia said she had been hearing voices, suffering from hallucinations, and had attacked her mum and other family members, including in one instance when she tried to grab a knife.
A viral infection intensified her “disorganised and unusual” behaviour two weeks before she was rushed to hospital, and doctors in Nottingham assessed whether there was a physical driver of Mia’s mental health issues.
They referred her to the Becton Centre, suggesting all physical tests had returned normal results.
The inquest continues.