The daughter of a mental health patient who committed suicide by jumping under a train has won a £10,000 payout, potentially opening the floodgates for compensation claims against the NHS.

The Daily Mail reports that 50-year-old Carol Savage had a history of running away from the secure unit at Runwell Hospital – part of South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Her daughter Anna Savage, 23, has won a claim brought under the Human Rights Act that her mother's 'right to life' had been breached by the hospital.

In the High Court, Mr Justice Mackay said he had 'no doubt she presented a real and immediate risk' of absconding from the hospital and committing suicide in the days that led up to her death in July 2004.

The case has cost the NHS ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’ – and the payout now places a greater obligation on the health service to safeguard the lives of patients considered vulnerable. In the decade between 1997 and 2006, a total of 1,851 patients committed suicide. Out of these, 469 had absconded from the ward they were being treated on – and 761 had obtained permission to leave the ward.

The ruling means that families in such cases can now make a claim against the NHS under Article 2 of the Human Rights Act.

An inquest into Mrs Savage's death in 2005 was told that staff at Runwell Hospital had considered her to be at low risk of absconding from the unit. However, on a previous occasion, Mrs Savage had been found wandering among traffic on the A130, trying to kill herself.

Lawyers for the family said that Mrs Savage had spoken of suicide on at least four occasions to staff at the hospital – and there had been 19 occasions when she had expressed ‘paranoid’ ideas about harm coming to her family.

'It is incredible to think that these risks were not identified and simple measures to protect Carol Savage were not taken,’ said the family’s lawyer in court.

Spokesperson for the hospital, Maxine Forrest, said:

'The Trust extends its deepest condolences to the Savage family. Mr Justice Mackay has concluded that South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust breached the positive obligation to protect the life of Carol Savage under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Trust is considering the contents of the judgment.'

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