Wards were over capacity when patient took her life, inquest told

A woman admitted to a Brisbane hospital’s mental health unit searched for methods to end her life before she died, as staff working there suffered unmanageable workloads and constant overcrowding, an inquest has heard.

Kendal Quicke, 31, died at The Prince Charles Hospital in Chermside on November 12, 2023, less than two weeks after being admitted to one of the facility’s mental health units.

Her death was the first to be examined as part of a two-week coronial inquest into the cluster of three suicides at the north Brisbane hospital between December 2022 and April 2024.

Later, the two-week inquest would hear about the cases of 77-year-old Barry Ellery and 37-year-old Miranda Meyer, who also died by suicide in the hospital’s care.

On Monday, it heard Quicke suffered major depressive disorder and had been diagnosed with several other chronic conditions including ADHD, autism, borderline personality disorder, and possible PTSD.

Staff involved in her initial assessment described her risk of self harm as being higher than usual, but said Quicke was “honest, forthcoming [and] reflective”, and they did not believe she intended to end her life.

“I felt Kendal had a very positive prognosis,” one treating psychiatrist said, “and that with a period of treatment and better access to support beyond the acute phase, I thought she was going to do very well.”

The inquest was told that Quicke became increasingly distressed throughout her stay due to personal circumstances, including information being shared by her partners, and where she would live after leaving hospital.

She expressed suicidal thoughts, and at one point her partners contacted the hospital and told staff they had access to her search history and could see she was researching methods of suicide while admitted to the ward.

Doctors told the inquest that both were common for people admitted to the facility, and were not necessarily cause for escalation.

“It was not possible to know at the time whether this was consistent behaviour that had been a chronic picture for Kendal, or whether this was an escalating behaviour,” her psychiatrist said.

Staff also spoke of frequent overcrowding on the wards, which have a total of 60 inpatient beds available, and difficulties managing the workload.

Asked whether the wards were full or close to capacity at the time of Quicke’s stay, one psychiatrist said it was over capacity “100 per cent of the time” and that beds from the hospital’s thoracic ward were constantly used for mental health patients.

Another psychiatrist testified to managing between 11 and 13 patients at the time of her admission, more than double the recommended caseload.