Tragic man hit by taxi outside hospital had been 'dismissed' by mental health team despite suicide attempt minutes earlier, inquest hears

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Mental health clinicians 'dismissed' a patient making threats to take his own life moments before he 'rolled' into the road and was hit by a taxi, an inquest has heard.

Daniel Kirton, 35, tragically died after being hit by a car on Upper Brook Street less than two hours after being discharged from Manchester Royal Infirmary by the mental health team on December 3, 2020. An inquest into his death on Monday (August 22) heard that Daniel had been deemed fit to be released, despite attempting to take his own life on the hospital grounds minutes later.

The inquest, at Manchester Coroner's Court, heard how Daniel, who was homeless at the time, had attended the emergency department earlier that evening, at around 4.40pm. He was not assessed until around 10.15pm.

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He was then assessed again a short while later before being 'escorted' out of the hospital at around 11.15pm, when security officers based at MRI got a radio call from colleagues telling them there was an 'aggressive male' refusing to leave the department.

Upon arrival, David Postlethwaite, one of the security officers with Sodexo, the agency that hires security personnel at the hospital, said they found Daniel trying to take his own life on hospital grounds. Mr Postlethwaite told the court that they rescued him but that they had 'no training in dealing with people with mental health'.

However, the court heard that the security officers carried out training where they were awarded certificates in behaviour management and ways to restrain patients safely and did refresher courses every year after that.

“As soon as I approached him (Daniel), I knew he wasn’t well. I have been around