A Statement by Southern Health

NHS Foundation Trust about the

death of Connor Sparrowhawk

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Our Statement

The investigation

The inquest

The Trust agrees

Compensation

Connors Mother

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Our Statement
Southern Health NHS Foundation
Trust agrees that it is responsible for
the death of Connor Sparrowhawk.
Connor was an 18-year-old boy who
was a much loved son, brother and
friend.
He died on 4th July 2013 while being
looked after by the Short Term
Assessment and Treatment Unit,
(STATT Unit) Slade House.
This STATT Unit is part of the Trust.

The STATT Unit is a place where

people with learning disabilities can
go to be assessed.
Staff look at the best way for them
to stay healthy.

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We could have kept Connor alive.

He died because some people

made mistakes. They should not
have made those mistakes.

Also because of:

Problems in the way the unit is
run, and

The way the Trust is

run.

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The investigation
Verita looked into everything to do
with the death of Connor Sparrow
Hawk.

Verita is an independent company.

They look into problems in Health
trusts and other things.

They wrote a report in February 2014

which said: Connor could have been kept
safe.

Connor should not have died.

The care that was given to him

was not good enough.
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 The Trust did not deal with

his epilepsy properly.

Epilepsy is health problem in the

brain which can cause seizures
or ts.

The Trust agrees with the

report from Verita.

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The inquest
An inquest is where the law
looks into the reasons why someone
has died.
It is run by a judge.
In very serious cases they have a
jury.
A jury is a group of ordinary people
who have been chosen to decide the
truth of the case.
The inquest jury on 16th October
2015 said:
Connor died by drowning after an
epileptic seizure while in the
bath,
He had suffered from neglect.
Neglect is a type of abuse where
things are not done to keep
someone safe which should have
been done.

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The Trust agrees

The Trust agrees that:
The doctors on the STATT Unit
did not help the other staff to do a
good job,

Nurses did not have enough

training in how to look after
someone with epilepsy,

The arrangements for Connor to

have a bath were very bad,

Staff did not nd out enough

about Connors epilepsy,

Staff did not think about the risks

to Connor,
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 Staff did not talk or listen to

Connors family about his
epilepsy.

The Trust agrees that:

It did not give Connor the care
that the law says it should,

It did not give Connor his

rights,

It did not give Connors family

their rights.

The Trust agrees that it did not give all

the information about Connors death
to the lawyers and to Connors family.

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Compensation
Compensation is money that is
paid to someone who lost something
because you did something wrong.

The Trust will pay Connors family

80,000 compensation.

Connors mother
The Trust agrees that Connors
mother, Dr. Sara Ryan has been fair,
reasonable and proper.

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Some Trust staff got very upset and

said negative things about Dr Sara
Ryan and the Justice for LB
campaign.
The Trust does not agree with
anything they said

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