Lousia Ovington independent investigation report ... - NHS North East

During Louisa Ovington’s first admission it was understandable that apparently no
attempt was made to address Louisa Ovington’s underlying psychological difficulties,
as her paranoid and aggressive presentation would have prevented this. The child and
adolescent psychiatrist who assessed her in January 1996 expressed concerns for her
future, referring to her possible personality difficulties.
Although there was a plan to refer Louisa Ovington to psychology during her second
admission, there was no further reference to this in the records.
Louisa Ovington’s third admission to Hartlepool General Hospital (in March 1997)
was very brief and was precipitated by her use of drugs. Two months later she was
admitted to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for ten days. During this admission it was
noted that the deterioration in her mental state might have been due in part to her
having recently had contact with her father who had just been released from prison.
Various other possible psychological triggers were also noted. However, there is
no reference to her being referred for any specific treatment for her psychological
problems – but again this is understandable given that she told the staff that she was
not certain that she would be staying in the area.
Over the course of the next year (30 May 1997 to 5 June 1998) Louisa Ovington was
followed up in the community by Consultant 6 and CPN 1. The focus of their work
appears to have been monitoring of her mental state in relation to her psychotic
symptoms and their treatment. There was no evidence of psychological work.
Tony White Unit
CHAPTER 2 – EVALUATION OF THE HEALTH CARE AND TREATMENT OF
LOUISA OVINGTON
Louisa Ovington was admitted to the Tony White Unit on 5 June1998. Although her
psychological issues were noted by the clinical team, it was not feasible to address
Louisa Ovington’s psychological difficulties whilst she was there; her behaviour was
too disturbed and the unit was not set up for this sort of work, including anger
management training, which Louisa Ovington specifically requested. Consultant
5 commented that she suffered, “to an extent”, from a psychopathic personality
disorder. (He was concerned about how this could be treated, as he feared that she
would not engage. However, without treatment he foresaw her as having a “tragic
future”).
The clinical team tried to manage Louisa Ovington’s verbal and physical outbursts
using behavioural techniques, but there was also evidence that the nursing staff were
aware of Louisa Ovington’s early life history and that they gave her time to ventilate
her views about it. They did not, however, discuss this in depth, because, as Sister 1
told the panel, the whole point of Louisa Ovington being at Tony White Unit was to
“settle her” and such discussions would have upset her. She did however talk with
the nursing staff about her ambivalent feelings about her father (who came to see her
whilst she was there).
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