Health officials apologise over teen Ahlia Raftery's suicide in Newcastle mental health unit
/ By Giselle WakatamaHealth officials in the NSW Hunter Valley have admitted failings and apologised to the family of a teenager who took her own life in a mental health unit.
Ahlia Jane Raftery, 18, committed suicide at the Mater Mental Health Centre in Newcastle in March 2015.
An inquest into her death has heard she had been transferred between several facilities within a week, and had threatened suicide before.
Her family alleges that 15-minute checks were not carried out, with Ms Raftery dying alone in an inappropriate room.
Today, the lawyer for Hunter New England Health acknowledged failures in Ahlia's care, and apologised for what he called a tragic loss.
Ahlia's parents, Michael and Kirstie, replied softly, "Thank you".
"It's been a long time coming, wanting to hear an apology, and now that it's come we've received it in the spirit it was given," Mr Raftery said outside court.
"I think letting us know that the hospital has made some failings makes us feel a bit better from the outset."
Regarding the centre's failings, the inquest has been told there may have been confusion after a shift handover (a practice that has been addressed since Ahlia's death).
The four times the teenager was transferred from unit to unit was another factor, with a nurse telling the inquest it would have been very unnerving for Ahlia to be moved that many times.
The inquest also heard nursing staff at the Mater were only told Ahlia had tried to kill herself once before, not twice.
She did not want to die, parents say
Ms Raftery's parents hope their daughter's death was not in vain.
"We know Ahlia was troubled, but she didn't want to die. She just wanted to be able to get past this," Mr Raftery said.
"The hospital needed to care for her and be able to help her get past this, and we think that's where the main failings were.
"Ahlia just had such a bright future ahead of her. She'd had a good life and she was going to continue.
"One of the great shames of this is the loss of Ahlia. She's not going to be able to marry and have kids, see her young brother Liam grow up, and continue to have the great friendship she had with her brother Adam."
Ms Raftery is hoping the inquest into her daughter's death will be a catalyst for change.
"It's definitely what we are after, that she has a voice in this and that things can change," she said.
"Patient care should come first, not paperwork or where you live, but looking after the patient."
She wanted to be a mental health nurse, brother says
Adam Raftery also spoke about a system that failed his sister.
"Before she passed she said she wanted to be a nurse. She even talked about becoming a mental health nurse," he said.
"These are people she trusted the most, and she had faith in the system, and unfortunately she was let down."
The inquest is focusing on several failings in terms of Ms Raftery's care, as well as why she was shifted from facility to facility in the week before she died.
Several nurses have given evidence at the inquest, with one fighting back tears as she offered her condolences to the family.
"If she just had have been taken care of a bit better, we could have gone on to helping her through her depression and for her to be alive today," Mr Raftery said.
The inquest is continuing.