A mental health nurse, Laurence Tchapong, has been jailed for four years after failing to check on a patient she resented for 25 minutes before the patient took her own life. Tchapong should have observed Amy Barber, 22, every five minutes at the Brooklands psychiatric intensive care unit at Clatterbridge Hospital, Wirral, but a court heard she held a grudge after Ms Barber reported her for sleeping on duty, resulting in a verbal warning. The case highlights serious failings in patient safety oversight and has prompted calls from Ms Barber's family for the NHS to learn lessons.

Ms Barber was found unresponsive on 30 June 2022 and died four days later from a catastrophic brain injury. CCTV footage showed Tchapong had walked past her room three times without entering and had falsified observation logs afterwards to cover her tracks. A Liverpool Crown Court jury took just 15 minutes to convict her of wilful neglect, rejecting her claims that the ward was understaffed. Ms Barber's mother said her "bright and clever" daughter had been "let down" by a system meant to protect her.