The Humes have in recent years spoken publicly about what happened, not only in their search for answers but to ensure the narrative around their daughter was accurate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew our daughter,\u201d Carey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was fully functional, studying, achieving great grades, well presented, had got herself a part-time job. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t meet the picture of someone supposedly with mental health issues and that was half of the battle<\/a>,\u201d Carey said of the family\u2019s pleas for help.<\/p>\n Death was \u2018preventable\u2019<\/p>\n Erica had been admitted to the ward on May 6, 2014.<\/p>\n The following day, a nurse\u2019s hunch about her fragile state turned out to be true, but a decision to check on her was minutes too late.<\/p>\n Erica was found in her room in the ward alive but unconscious, after she was seen returning from lunch in the dining room.<\/p>\n Resuscitation efforts began immediately by staff and then continued once an emergency team arrived, but Erica remained unconscious.<\/p>\n She was moved to the intensive care unit but her condition deteriorated, and she died nine days later.<\/p>\n Coroner Matthew Bates<\/a> was critical of hospital management and staff for a series of failures linked to what happened.<\/p>\n He said her death was preventable.<\/p>\n Health New Zealand<\/a> said in a statement to NZME that it accepted the coroner\u2019s findings and recommendations and was committed to ensuring it learned from what happened.<\/p>\n The national director of mental health and addiction services, Phil Grady, said HNZ extended its deepest condolences to Erica\u2019s wh\u0101nau. <\/p>\n \u201cErica\u2019s death has had a profound and lasting impact on her loved ones, and we acknowledge that this pain continues,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Self-harm occurred day after admission<\/p>\n The self-inflicted harm which led to Erica\u2019s death happened the day after she was admitted. She died in the early hours of the morning on May 16.<\/p>\n Carey said as macabre as it might sound, the delay was a \u201cgift\u201d because they had time to say their goodbyes, and time to start asking questions.<\/p>\n Erica\u2019s death happened a month after the death of her friend, 30-year-old Shaun Gray<\/a>, in the same ward, which had a big impact on their \u201csympathetic and empathetic\u201d daughter, Carey said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs horrible as it was, and as traumatic for us and her siblings, we had those 10 days because if she had died straight away, we might never have found out information they [staff] were not telling us.\u201d<\/p>\n The family didn\u2019t know Erica\u2019s phone had been misplaced on admission and she was unable to call them.<\/p>\n It was a point raised by the coroner. He said if Erica had had her mobile phone on May 6 and 7 she would have had a greater opportunity to reach out to her friends or parents for additional support. <\/p>\n A coronial inquest into Gray\u2019s death raised multiple issues about the way the hospital handled his care, NZME reported in 2022.<\/p>\n Coroner Bates said the circumstances around Erica\u2019s death highlighted gaps in resourcing and failures around adhering to adequate policy and procedures in place at the time, but they were not properly followed.<\/p>\n He said that had they been, it may have prevented Erica\u2019s death, or at least materially reduced the chances of it occurring.<\/p>\n Coroner Bates said the circumstances around Erica\u2019s death highlighted the limited nursing resources available to Ward 21 at the time, the absence of a cohesive team nursing approach, and a poorly designed ward that was \u201cnever fit for purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n He acknowledged that a new acute mental health facility at the hospital, Ng\u0101 Wai Ng\u0101ro, was now operational but said any lessons learned should be applied to the new unit. <\/p>\n Grady, on behalf of HNZ, said mental health inpatient services<\/a> were complex environments that provided care for people who were often highly unwell and in acute distress. <\/p>\n \u201cWe recognise there is always more work to do to ensure we provide safe, high-quality care for patients and a safe working environment for staff,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Coroner Bates found Erica intended to end her own life, but acknowledged her family\u2019s view that, ultimately, in a more general sense, she did not want to die.<\/p>\n He also acknowledged that when she was admitted to Ward 21, she was actively seeking help from mental health services to try to live. <\/p>\n Classified as \u2018high risk\u2019 <\/p>\nErica Hume’s family say her mental health journey started when she was in Year 12. Photo \/ Hume family<\/p>\n
Erica Hume pictured when she was about seven-and-a-half years old. Her mother, Carey Hume, described her as a “typical Kiwi country girl”, who had the confidence to give things a go. Photo \/ Hume family<\/p>\n