A FORMER patient said she had to convince ward staff to remain with a woman who later killed herself.

On the third day of an inquest into the death Bethany Tenquist, who hanged herself on December 29 last year at Mill View Hospital in Hove, assistant coroner Sean Horstead read a statement from a former patient on the Caburn mental health ward.

She said she witnessed Bethany, who was agitated and had been drinking, swallow a large amount of crushed pills and broken glass.

The patient said that evening it was mostly bank and agency staff on shift, and they did not believe her initially and responded by saying: “We don’t put people on eye-sight just for being drunk.”

The patient’s statement read: “Staff continued to tell me Bethany had only taken her normal medication and needed to sleep it off.

“I sat down and said I know Bethany has razors in her plant pot and cords in her room, and she will attempt to hurt herself if you leave her.”

The patient remained in Bethany’s room until staff agreed someone would stay with Bethany for a while.

Later that evening she said she heard screams and saw staff giving Bethany CPR.

She said: “I’m surprised Bethany was not given a blood test straight away when I told them she had taken an overdose.

“I feel Bethany did not intend to die.

“I feel if she did she would not have shown me the pills or the glass. It was a cry for help.”