MEDICAL professionals failed to assess the long-term risks of discharging a man who later died after falling from a Southend bridge, an inquest heard.

Chris Nota, 19, died after falling into the Queensway underpass on July 8, 2020, less than a month after he was discharged from a mental health unit on June 9.

The inquest into his death resumed yesterday at Essex Coroner’s Court, in Chelmsford.

The hearing heard medical professionals were not experienced enough to deal with Mr Nota’s needs.

Mr Nota had been under the care of Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) at Hart House, in Southend, before he died.

The inquest was adjourned in September after emails came to light between doctors which has not been seen by internal investigation or the coroner.

During yesterday’s hearing, Dr Mark Potter, a consultant psychiatrist and panel member, said: “I think the conclusions the staff got to were about immediate risks.

“If you look at the long term and overview you can see there are risks.”

The inquest was told two reports into circumstances leading up to Mr Nota’s death are being considered; one created before it came to light that emails between doctors were not disclosed by the trust, and one after.

Reading from the original report, coroner Sean Horstead said: “Staff were not equipped to manage and help Chris’s needs.

“It would have been better to have people with greater expertise in autism. The staff tried to give the best care with what was available.

“Emails showed there was an absence of valid reasons to keep him in hospital and you say there was no reference of how another doctor came to conclusions about how there were questions over his ability to assess the drug use.”

Mr Horstead added: “His behaviour was exasperated by drug misuse, and he showed little interest in dealing with the issue.

“His behaviour was likely to repeated on discharge. There could be evidence his difficulties were of a degree where he needed help in hospital and the less restrictive options were not sufficient to keep him safe.”

The inquest is due to continue for the rest of the week.