LEIGHTON Hospital has been blasted by a damning independent review following the death of an Alsager man who absconded from a psychiatric ward.

Manic depression sufferer Andrew McDonald, aged 28, was found drowned lying face down in a nearby farmer's field after escaping from the hospital at the third attempt in January last year.

An open verdict returned at the inquest into the death of the talented artist last month left his parents angry, maintaining Leighton staff were negligent.

The new report lists a host of inadequate procedures carried out during the incident.

The report of the medical assessor in particular criticises the hospital, making the following observations:

If there had been staff training and the introduction of an airlock system of two sets of locking doors, this tragedy may have been avoided.

More adequately trained staff should have been deployed into the ward to ensure patient safety.

The hospital's missing person's and observation policies were last reviewed in 1993 instead of yearly, with no policy for the use of the emergency buzzer on the ward.

The operational manager wasn't informed of the incident- "a serious error in judgement."

Ward 20 was a locked ward, requiring a higher staff to patient ratio.

Despite a total of four police officers attending following the incident, no missing person's form was completed until the early hours of the following morning.

There were breaches of the United Kingdom Central Council code of professional conduct in respect of the care for the patient.

The staff and the ward were ill prepared to manage the type of patient they were expected to cope with.

Andrew's parents, Norma and Winton McDonald, will now use the report as a base for legal proceedings against Leighton Hospital.

"It was a young man's life wasted and they will never realise what damage they have done to this family, especially Andrew," said Mrs McDonald.

"It's in the hands of our solicitors now but this has never been about the money, it's about justice."

Simon Yates, chief executive of Mid Cheshire Hospitals Trust, agreed that facilities at Leighton were inadequate at the time and said Andrew should have been sent to Macclesfield Hospital.

"Clearly as a result of an inappropriate placement we ended up with Andrew's death, which is very much regretted."

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