'Beautiful' woman, 20, who died 300 miles from home was 'failed by the system', her grieving mum says

The mum of a young woman who died in a psychiatric hospital almost 300 miles from home has detailed 'significant concerns' about her care as she claimed her daughter was 'failed by a system that should have helped and supported her.'

Lauren Bridges, 20, was found unconscious in an en-suite bathroom at the Priory's Cheadle Royal hospital just after 10pm on February 24 last year.

She was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital and placed on life support but it was withdrawn after organ donation and she died two days later.

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Lauren, from Dorset, who at the time of her death was detained under the mental health act, had been transferred to a 'more secure unit' at the hospital in Stockport in July 2021, the jury at an inquest into her death which began yesterday (Monday) were told.

By September that year she had improved and was deemed to be 'ready to step down onto an acute unit closer to home.' However, by February 2022 she was still at the hospital, a six-hour drive from the family home in Bournemouth, and was demonstrating 'escalating behaviours' and was becoming 'increasingly distressed', it was heard.

Giving evidence in court, her mother, Lindsey Bridges, described Lauren as a 'beautiful person inside and out' and said she 'brought so much joy to everyone who loved and knew her.'

She told the jury hearing the inquest at South Manchester Coroner's Court that Lauren was a 'straight A student' who had aspirations to become a doctor or a nurse as she 'wanted to use her life to help others.'

At times fighting back tears, she said Lauren lost her brother Alfie from a rare genetic condition when he was just two years old and that it had a