‘Chaotic, scary and intense’: Inside the scandal-hit hospital where teen spent her final days (The Independent, 30 August 2025)

Summary

“Chaotic, scary and really, really intense” – Steph Smith's time working at Huntercombe Hospital was nothing short of harrowing.

And as a former mental health patient at the scandal-hit site in Maidenhead, she is better placed than most to make a judgement.

At just 19 years old, with limited qualifications and after just 10 days of training, Ms Smith was often the most senior person available when serious incidents, such as patients self-harming, occurred at its Thames ward, where she was responsible for caring for its most acutely mentally unwell children and teenagers.

Months after Ms Smith started working there, 14-year-old patient, Ruth Szymankiewicz, fatally self-harmed after she was left alone by another care worker who had been given just a day and a half’s training and was working under a fake ID.

Now, speaking out for the first time in an exclusive interview with The Independent and Sky News, care worker Ms Smith and nurse Ellesha Brannigan have lifted the lid on their time working at the hospital to reveal the “chaotic” and understaffed working conditions on the ward where Ruth spent her tragic final days.