Chris Nota: Mental health team 'feared they couldn't keep teen safe' in the days before he fell from Southend bridge, inquest hears

A doctor from a mental health team in Essex has told an inquest that she and her colleagues feared they couldn't keep a teenager safe in the community in the days before his death. The inquest into the death of 19-year-old Chris Nota from Southend continued at Essex Coroner's Court on Wednesday (September 14).

Chris, who lived with autism, anxiety and learning difficulties, died on July 7, 2020, after falling from the Queensway bridge in Southend. He was under the care of the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) up until his death, and Area Coroner for Essex, Sean Horstead is looking into the circumstances of his death and the care received.

A doctor from a mental health team in Essex has told an inquest that she and her colleagues feared they couldn't keep a teenager safe in the community in the days before his death. The inquest into the death of 19-year-old Chris Nota from Southend continued at Essex Coroner's Court on Wednesday (September 14).

Chris, who lived with autism, anxiety and learning difficulties, died on July 7, 2020, after falling from the Queensway bridge in Southend. He was under the care of the Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) up until his death, and Area Coroner for Essex, Sean Horstead is looking into the circumstances of his death and the care received.

The inquest previously heard how Ms Hopper was fearful of looking after her son by herself, following a deterioration of his mental health due to the death of three relatives in a short space of time, where he had turned to smoking cannabis to calm himself. At the inquest, it was heard that the ESTEP team were also concerned about keeping Chris safe in the community, with applications wanted for funding to put him in the Priory Hospital in Chelmsford which specialises in addictions and mental health disorders.

Coroner Horstead said to Dr Ball: "On June 29th your colleague said you couldn't keep him [Chris] safe. Was that a view you agreed with?" Dr Ball replied: "That was a view of the whole team that we couldn't keep him safe at the time." The coroner said: "Your colleague said there needs to be a hearing for funding. It was unanimous as a team that you couldn't keep Chris safe in the community?"

 
Dr Ball replied: "Yes, that was a shared view." Coroner Horstead read aloud part of Dr Ball's statement of the events of July 7 when Chris died; Dr Ball said she and her team were "deeply affected" by Chris' death and were "devastated" by the loss. She also added that members of her team had invested many additional hours of work into Chris' care to try and ensure he was looked after.

After being admitted to Basildon Hospital in 2020, Chris was discharged on June 15 into a resident placement at Hart House in Southend. From this point on, Chris was in and out of hospital after leaving Hart House, at one point found having a fit in the street, and, on June 27, had gone to the same bridge on Queensway before being taken in by 

 
Tom Stoat, representing Chris' family, told the court that at the time of Chris' discharge into Hart House, his mother had raised concerns about his care and her desire for him to go into the Priory Hospital. Mr Stoat told Dr Ball that his mother Julia said he would need a treatment programme on stay at the Priory and that she wanted a team specialising in autism to be looking after him.

Dr Ball said: "Julia felt that we were not the service best placed to meet those needs, particularly as the psychosis he was recovering from and [had] not trouble with by this stage. She was appreciative of what we were doing but it was not addressing Chris' needs at the time."

The inquest continues.

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