Nottingham Crown Court found Rebecca Welch, aged 29, failed to carry out appropriate observations on the welfare of Amelia Rose at Millbrook Mental Health Unit (now known as Blossomwood) in Sutton-in-Ashfield.

Detective inspector Clare Gibson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: ‘Welch's failure to carry out mandatory observations, lost any opportunity to prevent Amelia taking these actions or possible interventions to save her life.'

In a statement Welch's parents said: ‘Amelia would have had her whole life ahead of her if she had been given the help she so desperately pleaded for, but in three short days of admission to Millbrook, due to the complete lack of care by Rebecca Welch, she was left to die unnecessarily.'

Ifti Majid, chief executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare, said: ‘On behalf of the trust, I again offer our deepest sympathies and apologies to Amelia's family and friends for their devastating loss.   

‘Carrying out therapeutic observations is one of the most important interventions that our inpatient nurses and support workers do - ensuring observations are not only carried out as prescribed, but that they are documented accurately, robustly and in line with policy is not optional, it must happen or our patients can come to the most serious harm.  As soon as we were made aware of Rebecca Welch's misconduct, she was immediately suspended, a comprehensive investigation was carried out and she was dismissed.  

‘We have made wide-ranging improvements which include comprehensive observations training for all staff as part of our induction process; renewing our policy to provide clarity and clear guidance; carrying out proactive audits of observations to understand the learning and compliance, this includes qualitative feedback from patients and their families. It is important to note that compliance with observations is monitored each week as part of our Safe Now dashboard.

‘Our thoughts remain with Amelia's family and friends, and I wish to reaffirm how seriously we take this matter and our commitment to ensuring all our patients are kept safe now and in the future.'