Daughters tell of anger at mother's death in bath on mental health ward

The daughters of a woman who died in the bath on a mental health ward despite her telling a psychiatrist she intended to drown have said lessons must be learned.

Maureen Sigsworth, 58, was found dead in the water less than an hour after she was admitted to Roseberry Park Hospital, Middlesbrough.

The mother-of-two, who had long-standing mental health issues and who was a paranoid schizophrenic, was admitted to the hospital in February 2014 after she used a cup to cut her arm.

She had told staff she planned to drown herself but after retracting the statement she was allowed a bath under supervision.

A member of staff left her alone in the bath for 17 minutes to attend to another patient. When the nurse returned, Mrs Sigsworth was dead.

Her daughters Dawn, 40, and Tracy Owen, 36, have settled a small civil claim with Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust.

Dawn said: “She was admitted at 4.30pm and died at 5.17pm.

“We are very angry and very upset. She should be here, she shouldn’t be gone. Why? It’s senseless.

“They could have said ’No, Maureen, you can have a bath tomorrow’, or not left her there.

“I don’t think we will ever accept what happened.”

Mrs Sigsworth had told a psychiatrist she wanted to be with her late parents “in heaven” and “was going to drown herself”, said Dawn.

It was said she then retracted the statement, but Dawn said her mother went on to say she was pregnant with God’s child.

“She was not in her right mind, obviously,” said Dawn. “How could she retract the statement?”

The grieving daughter said her mother had been treated for mental illness for 33 years.

The sisters were speaking out to demand nothing like this happened again.

“If we save one person’s life by speaking, we have done something,” she said.

A spokesperson for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are very sorry about Mrs Sigsworth’s tragic death.

“We understand how distressing this must have been for her family and are pleased that the claim has come to a conclusion.

“Whilst we cannot change what happened we have done everything in our power to prevent anything similar happening again.

“We offer the family our sincerest best wishes.”