Bethany Shipsey, 21, died at Worcestershire Royal hospital in February last year as staff struggled to deliver care in crowded ward

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A woman who had taken an overdose of diet pills died after being treated in a troubled A&E department on a day described as “overwhelming” by staff.

Bethany Shipsey, 21, was taken to Worcestershire Royal hospital after swallowing tablets she had bought online from eastern Europe that contained an industrial substance.

At the start of an inquest into her death in Stourport, Worcestershire, on Monday, staff described the day of her death in February last year as exceptionally busy.



Kirsty South, a senior sister at the hospital and the coordinator of the A&E department at the time Shipsey was admitted, told the inquest: “It was a very challenging shift. We were often unable to meet the quality access standards that day. It was one of the most challenging shifts we have worked. It was more than busy.”

On the scale used by the hospital, with green meaning normal, yellow being busy and red being critical, 15 February was an “overwhelming” or “black” day, South said.

“We got busier and busier and busier throughout the day. I would say [the number of patients] was very close to exceptional,” she said.

At the time of Shipsey’s death, the hospital was facing criticism over the deaths of two patients left to wait on trolleys.

Shipsey’s parents, Doug, 52, and Carole, 57, have claimed there was a delay before she was put in a resuscitation room, and she was moved from there because other patients were considered more seriously ill.

The inquest heard Shipsey, an animal rescue and welfare advocate, was being treated for mental health issues, linked to trauma from when she was raped by a previous partner. She was on home leave from a psychiatric ward when she took the pills.

Dr Alireza Niroumand, an emergency junior medical doctor who treated Shipsey, told the inquest it was one of the busiest days he had experienced.

“I can remember Miss Shipsey at the very end of the corridor because all the corridors were full of patients waiting to be seen. It was busy throughout my 10-hour shift,” he said.

Niroumand said he was not familiar with the pills Shipsey had taken. Under questioning from Michael Walsh, a lawyer representing her parents, he said he should have consulted the poisons department in order to fully understand the drug.

The inquest heard that on the day of the incident, Shipsey had messaged a friend saying: “I have just overdosed … I’m petrified of telling anyone because it is like my 15th overdose.”

Two weeks before Shipsey died, the Care Quality Commission ordered Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS trust, which runs the hospital, to urgently overhaul patient safety or face sanctions.

In December, it emerged that the trust had to turn patients away from A&E units 13 times in a week, including four times in a day, as snow left it facing “extremely challenging” conditions.

The inquest continues.Ends