A retired firefighter who took his own life whilst being treated at a hospital for severe PTSD was found in a windowless room with just two chairs and a settee which he slept on, an inquest has heard.

Health officials at the Countess of Chester Hospital have been condemned by a jury after former fire station manager John Pratt, 54, was found dead after slipping out of a tiny side room at the mental health facility unnoticed.

His partner Janine Carden had earlier pleaded with staff to keep an eye on him after he been expressing suicidal thoughts, but a nurse told her she had ’50 other patients to look after.’

Mrs Carden went home to sleep and returned to the facility the following morning to find Mr Pratt was not in the room and had taken his own life. 

Mr Pratt, who lived with Miss Carden in Frodsham, Cheshire, had been a senior fire officer with the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service at Bolton but had been haunted by his harrowing experiences of dealing with 999 call outs. 

His PTSD deteriorated when he was assigned to move the bodies of casualties who died in the Covid-19 pandemic and he took early retirement.

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Inquiries revealed that hospital staff had failed to correctly identify Mr Pratt’s high risk to himself whilst carrying out an assessment on him.

The inquest was also told that no checks or observations were made of Mr Pratt despite there being a policy in place requiring this.

The panel found that there had been a ‘complete and total failure to provide basic care’ to Mr Pratt and listed various failings including lack of communication between teams and a ‘lack of action’ by staff in the 48 hours before his death.