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Warlock
- May 24, 2020
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'System may have failed' woman, 20, who died after long mental health battle
A FORMER au pair for the Netherlands took her own life weeks after attending a walk-in centre to try and tackle her mental health problems, an…
Gwen Oldekamp, from Heerlen in the Netherlands, was found dead at her home address in Blackburn Street, Radcliffe, on Christmas Eve after a long battle with mental health problems.
The inquest at Rochdale Coroner's Court heard how the 20-year-old had struggled with her mental health for many years and had confided with colleagues at Booking.com in late November, who recommended she go to a walk in centre.
This led to her being seen at A&E at North Manchester General Hospital. Everyone she saw told her she needed to sign up to a GP for follow-up care and potential anti-depressant prescriptions.
She did eventually sign up to a GP on December 4, 2019, at the Rock Medical Centre but never made an appointment and was found dead at home on December 24.
Evidence was heard from a GP at that centre, Dr Colette Johnston, that they only had records of Gwen from 2018 and not of her recent visits to A&E where she had disclosed suicidal thoughts.
She said the system of notes between GPs and walk-in centres and A&Es can be "clunky", especially if a patient doesn't have a GP at the time they are seen, as in Gwen's case, and that the system on this occasion may have failed Gwen.
Evidence was also heard from a toxicologist, Julie Evans, who explained that it was sodium nitrate which caused Gwen's death.
This is hard to detect in blood and has become more common in suicide cases around the country over the last three years, which the court heard is being looked into by police and other agencies.
Evidence was also heard from the police, through Det Insp Nathan Percival and police coroner's officer Emma Campbell, about how through December Gwen appeared to plan taking her own life.
She acquired the sodium nitrite, which is not illegal to sell, through the internet and had been on websites where people discuss suicide in the weeks leading to her death.
Mr Percival also detailed how she had neatly left her passport and a note to her family on a table in her house signalling she intended to take her own life.
Coroner Joanne Kearsley questioned why she had not been given anti-depressants or referred through her trips to the walk in or A&E but it was explained by operational manager at Greater Manchester Mental Health, Debra Woodcock, how it was difficult to proscribe anti-depressants in an emergency, as in Gwen's case, without her having a GP.
This was a view backed up by Dr Johnston and that there may be others out there not picking up primary mental health care due to a lack of GP.
Ms Kearsley ended the inquest by discussing the ease by which sodium nitrate could be obtained. and describing Gwen's death as "a rare and tragic but extremely concerning cases."
She said: "She was clearly a young woman who loved animals, loved festivals and may have previously had mental health issues that were not know to her family.
"It was a short period of time between her going to A&E until her death on December 24 and clearly she had registered with a GP but had not gone to get further help."
Ms Kearsley concluded cause of death was sodium nitrite poisoning.
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