'Staff shortage left my sister abandoned in A&E'

"If we put this down to an unfortunate event that could be avoided, then we are normalising this to be OK, and it's not," Muriel Tawiah Thompson said.

Her sister, Chanel Thompson, had an "unwitnessed" cardiac arrest while waiting overnight in A&E at Barnet Hospital for a mental health bed in December 2024 - despite a plan for her to be under one-to-one supervision.

She died seven months later.

An inquest at North London Coroner's Court heard the 37-year-old died from pneumonia secondary to a brain injury caused by the cardiac arrest.

The coroner found that inadequate mental health monitoring was a factor in her death, the law firm representing the family said.

The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Barnet Hospital, said it had since conducted a "thorough review" of Chanel's care, including how it could "better respond to the complex needs of patients" who require one-to-one mental health nursing during busy periods in its emergency departments.

The day before she attended the north London hospital, Chanel had gone to the theatre with her sisters.

"The last time I think the four of us had that kind of moment together of joy and like union as sisters was when we were in the Bahamas, I think two years prior," Chantel Akworkor Thompson told BBC London.

The following day, however, her family became concerned when Chanel did not answer the door to her flat.

Muriel said that after they gained access, they saw her in her bed where she appeared in a "helpless […] frozen state" of confusion.

"I'd never seen her like that," Muriel said.

Chanel was taken to Barnet Hospital's A&E by ambulance that evening and remained there overnight while waiting for a mental health bed.

Stewarts, a law firm representing the family, said the coroner recorded a narrative conclusion and found that a plan for Chanel to be observed on a one-to-one basis by a mental health nurse was not carried out.

They said the coroner concluded that if it had been, it was "possible, not probable" that it could have made a material difference to the outcome.

The firm said Chanel was twice found slumped in her chair, but no contemporaneous notes were made, making the timeline unclear.

They added that there were seven mental health patients in A&E overnight and only two mental health nurses on duty, both already allocated.

Muriel said: "What has been established is that she was put on a plan to have one-to-one supervision. This plan was never executed or actioned.

"It is really clear now because we have gone through an investigation with Barnet, then we've obviously gone through the coroner's inquest and the outcome is she did not have one-to-one supervision and the registered mental health nurse that should have been with her."

She said one issue identified was the hospital's reliance on agency healthcare staff.

While the hospital attempted to get additional staff in, none were available.

"And lo and behold, she has a cardiac arrest," Muriel said

"She may have been left for up to half an hour until someone noticed her. So how does she go unnoticed? Was she just ignored?

"It feels like she was abandoned."

After the cardiac arrest, Chanel suffered a hypoxic brain injury.

Chanel remained in a minimally conscious state and was fed through an endoscopic tube.

Months later at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, after developing pneumonia and with no prospect of recovery, doctors withdrew life-sustaining treatment, her family said.

She died on 16 July 2025.

Muriel described her sister as central to the family.

"She was just part of my identity, and she was someone that was very family orientated, really cared about her friends, was even in contact with some of her primary school teachers," she said.

"[Chanel] was just a loving, caring person who yearned to have connection with her family."

Solicitor Alison Goldney, from Stewarts, said: "There is an over-reliance on bank or agency staff, which in turn has an impact on patient quality of care, because there's that inability to have consistent care, continued care, so the staff are not familiar with the patients.

"Had there been the one-to-one support observations that Chanel was meant to be receiving, it is possible that the outcome could have been different for Chanel."

Goldney said the trust has since hired more dedicated mental health staff, including a mental health matron to oversee patient care.

A spokesperson for the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Barnet Hospital, said: "We would like to share our heartfelt condolences with Chanel's family - our thoughts are with them at this incredibly difficult time."

In addition to the review it had already conducted, the trust said it would "welcome the opportunity to meet with Chanel's family to listen to their concerns and learn from their experience".

Muriel said: "The worst has happened for us already, but at least we can try and be part of a story to show that the system is not working."

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