Clatterbridge nurse with ‘grudge’ jailed after failing to check on patient before death
Laurence Tchapong faked observation logs to try to cover up what she'd done
A mental health nurse who failed to check on a patient she had a “grudge” against before she took her own life has been jailed for four years.
Laurence Tchapong, 54, should have carried out observations every five minutes on patient Amy Barber, 22, at the Brooklands psychiatric intensive care unit at Clatterbridge Hospital, Wirral, Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday.
But on June 30 2022 she had not checked on Ms Barber for 25 minutes before she was found by another nurse at 8.40pm and taken to Arrowe Park Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
The court heard Tchapong, who was found guilty of wilfully neglecting a patient after a trial, had then completed observation logs and “deliberately lied in those records to try and evade justice”, but was caught out by CCTV.
Sentencing her, Judge Anil Murray said Tchapong had previously been given a verbal warning after Ms Barber took a photo of her sleeping and reported her to management.
He said: “I am sure the defendant held a grudge against Amy for a perceived lack of warmth towards the defendant and because Amy had previously complained about the defendant.”
Reading a statement to the court, Ms Barber’s mother Susan described her as “the most caring, bright, funny and intelligent girl I’ve ever met”.
She said: “She was driven. That drive was taken away by a system that let her down.”
The court heard Ms Barber had been diagnosed with mental health illness in 2014 and was transferred to the Clatterbridge unit in 2019.
Her mother told the court: “Please learn from this.”
Tchapong, who moved to the UK from Cameroon, qualified as a mental health nurse in 2004, the court heard.
At the time of the incident, the defendant, of Penroyson Close, Manchester, was working a full-time job near Manchester as well doing agency work at Clatterbridge.
In evidence at trial, she said the ward had been understaffed and she had to carry out additional duties on the evening of Ms Barber’s death, but the judge said the jury had ruled out both assertions.
The court heard Tchapong was “resentful” of the hospital and felt she was being treated as a “scapegoat”.
The judge said: “It is suggested the defendant is remorseful. I can’t accept that as the defendant does not accept she is to blame here.”
Patrick Cassidy, defending, said the intensity and difficult nature of mental health nursing could sometimes “wear down the resilience and the professionalism of those who operate in that sector”.
He added: “There can be a confidence that there will be no further offences by this defendant.”
Tchapong, who the court heard was of previous good character, showed no reaction as she was jailed.