Assessment of father killer patient poor - inquest
The dangers posed by a man with schizophrenia who killed his father after fleeing a secure hospital were not adequately considered, an inquest has heard.
Daniel Harrison, 37, was detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act for manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
It followed a sustained attack on Dr Kim Harrison, 68, at the family's home in Clydach, Swansea, in March 2022.
Swansea Coroner's Court heard on Monday how a proper risk assessment of Daniel Harrison was not done when he was first detained.
Prof Jennifer Shaw - a psychiatry academic at University of Manchester who wrote a report on Daniel Harrison's care - said his increasingly aggressive behaviour towards his parents was not given enough attention by hospital staff.
This included an angry telephone call to his mother on the day he ran away.
Prof Shaw told the inquest that Daniel Harrison's parents, who were both doctors, gave mental health services detailed accounts of how their son's psychotic symptoms became increasingly worse after he started to refuse to take anti-psychosis medication in 2018.
When he was seen by psychiatrists in the year before killing his father, he was able to "mask" his symptoms, they said.
Combined with poor management of medical records, it left the doctors trying to assess Daniel Harrison "stabbing in the dark", Prof Shaw said.
Health and social services did not listen to the parents' concerns, she added, or "assertive engagement" to try to get Harrison the help he needed.
Instead, the court heard, he fell deeper into his delusions, including the belief that his "father caused Covid" and his parents were "putting something into his body".
Prof Shaw said Daniel Harrison's agitated behaviour should have been a red flag for staff at Neath Port Talbot Hospital, where he was detained.
Staff were also not shown a video of Daniel Harrison being verbally aggressive towards his parents and they did not speak directly to the psychiatrist who had been treating him since 2020.
"The link between thoughts about his family and most importantly his intentions toward them was not discussed," Prof Shaw said, calling his risk assessment by staff "inadequate".
He was able to flee by barging past a nurse holding open a ward door which was usually locked.
Prof Shaw said more stringent restrictions on Daniel Harrison's movements should have been in place.
The court heard how he was able to get a taxi to his parent's house because he had been allowed to keep his wallet and money while on the ward.
Keith Morton KC, representing Swansea Bay University Health Board, said Daniel Harrison had no history of physical violence, with an alleged assault on his landlord in February 2021 dropped by prosecutors.
In response, Prof Shaw said Daniel Harrison "was increasingly intimidating [verbally] and still had delusional beliefs".
The inquest continues.
