MANCHESTER
A man discharged by mental health staff attempted to take his own life on hospital grounds - before he 'rolled' onto a major road and died after being hit by a taxi, an inquest heard.
Daniel Kirton passed away at Manchester Royal Infirmary earlier this month.
On December 3, the 35-year-old visited the mental health team at the hospital.
He was then discharged.
Mr Kirton attempted to take his own life on hospital grounds, before 'rolling' onto Upper Brook Street. He was hit by a taxi at around 11.35pm.
He was pronounced dead on December 4.
An inquest into Mr Kirton's death was opened at Manchester Coroners' Court today (Wednesday).
Police coroners' officer Elizabeth Davies told the hearing Mr Kirton, who was of no fixed address and was unemployed, went to the hospital to see the mental team on the afternoon of December 3.
Ms Davies said that after he was discharged from hospital, he attempted to take his own life.
"He then proceeded to roll onto the ground and into the road on Upper Brook Street and was struck by a taxi," she added.
Coroner Zak Golombeck said Mr Kirton's mother; Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust; and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust would be recognised as 'interested persons' at the full inquest hearing.
Security guards at the hospital may also be able to actively participate in the proceedings, the coroner added.
"I will require a full file from Greater Manchester Police, which will include CCTV footage," Mr Golombeck said.
"I have seen the provisional results of the Home Office postmortem report and that lists chest injury as the cause of death, but I will await the full Home Office report.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A Welsh MP will earn an extra £30,000 this year for doing less than 18 days of work.
Earlier in the year WalesOnline reported how former Wales secretary Alun Cairns was being paid £15,000 a year to advise Crumlin based BBI Group - a company producing coronavirus tests for the UK Government.
Since September Mr Cairns has also been employed in another role for Newport based company Veezu Holdings Ltd who run Amber Cars and Dragon Taxis.
For both of this roles Mr Cairns is being paid £15,000 a year for "up to 70 hours a year".
Over 52 weeks of the year, 70 hours works out as one hour 20 minutes a week.
In total, across the two jobs, he he is working less than 18 working days in total for £30,000 a year.
For both companies he is listed as a "senior adviser".
When WalesOnline approached Veezu to ask what exactly Mr Cairns would be doing to earn his enormous salary they did not provide any detail on his responsibilities.
A statement from the company said that 2020 has demonstrated "like no other year that a successful company needs to be agile and responsive".
Adding that they wanted to be "at the forefront of action" on environment, transport, sustainability, safe travel, and compliance".
The statement then said: "Alun Cairns is one of a number of advisors that supports us, playing a key role in enabling us to achieve industry-leading standards in our focus areas."
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics/alun-cairns-money-job-vale-19511657
----------------------------------------------------------
Almost half of Northern Ireland's taxi drivers failed to apply for an emergency support grant set up by Stormont.
Payments of £1,500 were offered to drivers to help with their overheads following a massive drop in businesses during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
More than 9,000 taxi drivers were eligible to apply but about 5,000 applications were received.
Details were revealed at a Department of Infrastructure meeting on Wednesday.
The scrutiny committee heard from five taxi operators who are now seeking financial help for those businesses which run cabs.
Stephen Anton, from Fonacab, said there were a number of reasons why more taxi drivers did not apply for the grant.
Many had no access to computers to process the applications, he said, while others were unaware of the financial support scheme, which was open for a fortnight in November.
He said many taxi drivers had not returned to work and, as a result, operators have been forced out of business.
Eamon O'Donnell, from North West Taxi Proprietors, said 30% of their drivers had quit and will be hard to replace in the current economic climate.
Taxi operators provided an essential service to health workers and other key staff during the lockdowns, he said.
They were also on hand when families had to be moved into emergency accommodation overnight by statutory agencies.
In many cases, "coffers are now empty" and they need a meaningful support scheme to save firms from closure, Mr O'Donnell said.
On 29 October, Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon said a £14m package would go directly to taxi drivers.
She confirmed it would be a one-off cash payment of £1,500 to each taxi driver.
Some drivers have criticised this amount, describing it as "a go-away payment".
They said this would not go far enough to cover lost earnings during the Covid-19 pandemic.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-55247480
---------------------------------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment