Hospital failings continued after Alice Figueiredo death, leaked documents show

Just four months after a young woman died in a London mental health unit,, another patient tried to harm herself in startlingly similar circumstances, leaked documents seen by the BBC show.

Alice Figueiredo, a patient at Goodmayes Hospital, which is run by North East London Mental Health Trust (NELFT), attempted to harm herself using plastic or bin bags on 18 occasions, mostly taking them from the same shared toilet. On the 19th occasion, in July 2015, she managed to take her own life.

Just four months later, in November 2015, another young woman also on Hepworth ward attempted to harm herself using a bin bag. She survived.

Mental health campaigners say it suggests a worrying failure to learn from tragedies.

"It's shocking and distressing that this was still going on four months after Alice died," says Jane Figueiredo, Alice's mother. "The bin bags could and should definitely have been removed, but instead patients continued to be put at unnecessary risk."

NELFT says all bin bags have been removed and "it is committed to learning from every incident and continuously improving" the care it provides.

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Source: BBC News, 10 November 2025