Woman took own life after leaving hospital without family's knowledge
‘Glamourous’ businesswoman took her own life days after discharging herself from flagship Priory hospital without her family’s knowledge, inquest hears
- Annabel Findlay, 56, was being treated at the Priory Hospital in Roehampton
- A coroner has written to the clinic after finding ‘matters for concern’ in her case
- For confidential support call Samaritans on 116123 or visit www.samaritans.org
A ‘glamourous’ businesswoman took her own life days after discharging herself against the wishes of her psychiatrist from a flagship Priory hospital which then failed to tell her family she had left, an inquest heard.
Annabel Findlay, who had a history of depression and psychiatric illness, had been receiving treatment at the firm’s Roehampton clinic in August 2021 after being admitted following a referral from her GP.
The 56-year-old, who ran a so-called ‘posh porn’ company specialising in ‘elegant erotica’, left the southwest London clinic despite clinicians requesting that she stay.
An inquest heard the clinic, which is popular among celebrities undergoing treatment, didn’t attempt to contact her until 10 days later. Ms Findlay was found dead the same month.
A coroner has now raised concerns about the Priory’s response to her departure from the hospital, including that her family and friends were not contacted when she left.
Annabel Findlay (pictured) took her own life days after leaving a Priory hospital against the advice of psychiatrists
The 56-year-old had been receiving support at the company’s flagship clinic in Roehampton (pictured)
Ms Findlay, who had a Masters degree in Art History from the same university attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales, had worked as a photographer and director of erotic website Toffporn.
Friends paid tribute to her as a ‘very talented photographer’ – she had been a stylist and beauty editor for Brides magazine before establishing a photography business specialising in images of clients naked or in lingerie.
They told The Times: ‘Annabel was regarded by those who knew her as a vivacious, charismatic friend, who was very glamorous and had an extremely quick wit and a wonderful sense of humour.’
In a Prevention of future deaths report published this month, coroner Jake Taylor said while Ms Findlay had received treatment from the Priory Hospital in Roehampton between February 2018 and August 2021, she was ‘not always engaging with medical professionals and disclosed that she had been self-medicating’.
The inquest into her death heard that she had been admitted to the hospital on August 20, 2021, for ‘various complaints’ after a referral by her GP.
The report noted psychiatrists were trying to reduce the amount of venlafaxine she was taking before her admission as the anti-depressant had resulted in unintended urinary retention.
After being admitted she was started on a different anti-depressant, but just seven days later on August 27, 2021, discharged herself.
Mr Taylor said this was ‘despite the requests of her treating psychiatrist for her to remain so that her response to her change of medication could be monitored’.
Ms Findlay (pictured) took her own life days after discharging herself from the Priory Hospital in Roehampton
He added that a discharge plan was put in place as Ms Findlay was ‘deemed to have capacity’ and ‘no significant risks were identified’.
As part of this plan, she was meant to contact the hospital to make an outpatient appointment and was given a week’s supply of medication, according to the report.
Despite this, the report claims ‘steps were not taken to contact her emergency contact and/or next of kin, such as to facilitate Ms Findlay being supported in the community upon discharge’.
The coroner wrote that her family and friends were not aware of her discharge, despite her emergency contact being listed as the person who brought her into hospital a week earlier.
It added: ‘No follow up appointment was made prior to Ms. Findlay’s discharge and no attempts were made to contact her following her discharge until 6 September 2021.’
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In his report Mr Taylor says these are ‘matters of concern’ and has written to the Priory Hospital asking it to explain what action it will take to prevent this happening in the future.
In a statement given to the Times, the hospital said: ‘We would like to reiterate our deepest condolences to Ms Findlay’s family and friends.
‘While we would always urge against a patient discharging themselves against clinical advice, we undertook a thorough review following Ms Findlay’s death and strengthened the way we ensure follow-up calls are made to patients post discharge in accordance with our policy.
‘This plan has now been shared with the coroner to provide assurances that recommendations have been actioned.’
Ms Findlay’s death is the latest in a line of cases that have seen the clinic criticised for how it has treated some patients.
The Priory has become synonymous with celebrities recovering from drink or drug addiction at the brand’s flagship hospital in Roehampton.
But the majority of patients at more than 300 Priory clinics all over Britain are paid for by the NHS; the taxpayer, in other words.
The Priory, which gets at least £400 million a year in lucrative NHS contracts, is now the biggest provider of mental health services in the country.
Since 2019, four Priory hospitals have been forced to shut following damning inspections by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the NHS regulator, due to a shortage of staff, who often lacked the skills to deal with the complex needs of patients.
Among the cases that have put the brand under the spotlight was the death of millionaire Stephen Bantoft in 2015.
The 49-year-old had been suffering from alcohol dependence and personality disorder when he was voluntarily admitted for a week’s care at Roehampton Hospital – the same clinic where Ms Findlay was treated.
He ended up hanging himself just hours after arriving, despite his wife warning staff he was a suicide risk when she brought him in, his inquest heard. Last year his family settled a lawsuit with the firm in relation to his death.
Mental health blogger Beth Matthews, pictured left with her sister Lucy (right), took her own life at the Priory Hospital in Cheadle Royal
READ MORE HERE: Mental health blogger took her own life after taking poison she bought online from Russia while in hospital, inquest finds
Earlier this year a jury inquest ruled the neglect by a Priory psychiatric unit treating mental health blogger Beth Matthews contributed to her death.
The 26-year-old, who was being treated at the Priory Hospital in Cheadle Royal, near Stockport, took her own life on March 21 last year while on the ward after ingesting a poison she had bought online from Russia.
She had been categorised as ‘high risk’ and was being supervised by two members of staff when she opened a parcel containing a plastic bottle of the substance, despite orders she should not be allowed to open her own mail.
She initially told staff it was ‘protein powder’ before ingesting it in front of them despite their efforts to stop her, after which she told them ‘I’ll be dead in an hour’. Ms Matthews suffered a fatal cardiac arrest the same day
A nine-day inquest found that ‘neglect’ by staff had contributed to her death, with The Priory Group admitting her care plan ‘was not followed’ and if it had she would likely ‘not have ingested the substance, and would not have died as she did’.
Following the inquest, a spokesperson for the hospital said they ‘fully accept the jury’s findings and acknowledge that far greater attention should have been given to Beth’s care plan’.
They added: ‘At the time of Beth’s unexpected death, we took immediate steps to address the issues around how we document risk and communicate patients’ care plans, alongside our processes for receiving and opening post.
‘Patient safety is our utmost priority and we will now review the Coroner’s comments in detail and make all necessary, additional changes to our policies and procedures.’
- For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details
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