Georgina Hodson was 27 when she took her own life after being sent alone from a London hospital in a taxi during a mental health emergency, an inquest has heard.
The Oxford graduate was taken by ambulance to St Thomas’ Hospital in south London last April after suffering a mental health crisis.
Psychiatric nurse Ifeoma Onuorah assessed Ms Hodson and decided the best course of action was for her to attend the Mental Health Crisis Assessment Service (MHCAS) at St Charles Hospital in Kensington, run by Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
Rather than arrange an escort or ambulance transfer, Ms Onuorah placed Ms Hodson in an unescorted taxi to west London — and failed to confirm with the team there that she would be arriving.
Ms Hodson diverted the taxi back to her flat, where she ended her own life, the inquest at Inner West London coroner’s court heard.
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Ms Onuorah broke down in tears as she explained that she had been led to believe the assessment service had been told Ms Hodson was on her way.
Ms Onuorah told the inquest: “I’m really sorry. In hindsight, I should have told MHCAS myself, and I should have arranged for her to have an escort or for her to go in an ambulance.”
Ms Hodson’s mother, Kate Grimwade-Hodson, said her daughter had made clear she did not want to go to MHCAS.
Kate Grimwade-Hodson said: “Georgie hated MHCAS. I spoke to her on the phone when she was in the hospital, and she said she wasn’t going.
“Then she stopped answering my calls. If I had known, I would have got on a train and seen her.”
Ms Hodson had told Ms Onuorah that she did not have plans to kill herself.
The nurse still had concerns, so rather than discharge her fully, she arranged for MHCAS to see her and organised a taxi to the centre.
She was described as “ambivalent” about going, but was persuaded by Ms Onuorah.
Steven Badger, the South London and Maudsley general manager for the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, told the inquest that Ms Hodson should not have been sent off in the taxi without the destination hospital being told.
‘Absolutely reprehensible’
Ms Hodson’s sister, Becky Garnett-Buchma, said her sister’s treatment had been “very lackadaisical”.
Becky Garnett-Buchma said: “I work in mental health, and if someone who worked for me behaved like that, they wouldn’t be working for me any longer, they’d be up for a disciplinary and a referral.”
Her father, Nick Hodson, said: “If the staff aren’t doing their job properly, then another family will have to go through what we’ve gone through. It is absolutely reprehensible.”
Mr Hodson said he called the police that night to express how worried he was about his daughter.
When PCs Joe Hedges and Gareth Baker attended her basement flat, they were unable to get an answer.
They heard the sound of running water coming from the property and thought she was in the shower.
The policemen were able to enter 15 minutes later and found Ms Hodson lying on the floor.
An ambulance arrived, and she was given CPR, but she was pronounced dead in the early hours of April 11.
A toxicology report found that Ms Hodson had taken an overdose.
The inquest heard that Ms Hodson was born in Hunan Province, China, before being adopted at the age of 20 months by the Hodsons, who live in Chester, Cheshire.
She got top grades in her A-levels at King’s School, Chester, and read philosophy and theology at Worcester College, Oxford.
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During the Covid-19 pandemic, her mental health deteriorated. She previously suffered anxiety in secondary school. She had also been diagnosed with autism and anxiety.
Coroner Sophie Mortimer ruled her death a suicide.
