A patient was "found hanged" in a room at a mental health hospital run by an NHS trust where a "ligature action plan" was delayed due to coronavirus.
The man, an inpatient on the all male Morris Ward at Clock View Hospital in Walton, was found dead in the early hours of Monday despite being under observation.
Merseyside Police were initially involved in investigating but a spokeswoman for the Force said the man's death was being treated as non-suspicious and had been referred to the coroner's office.
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Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the majority of the county's inpatient mental health services, has recorded concerns about "ligature incidents" this year, despite a fall in the number of incidents in recent months.
In the 2019/20 financial year, the trust only spent a third of its £150,000 budget allocated for anti-ligature measures.
And the implementation of a new set of procedures, referred to as the 'Ligature Action Plan' in internal reports, was delayed until last month due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Measures can include specialist furniture which patients are unable to use to create a ligature point, alarms on bedroom doors and meshes over windows, as well as staff training.
A report in November last year stated that this was "due to years of reducing ligature risk".
However in January members of the Mersey Care board had expressed concerns about the numbers of ligature incidents at inpatient units and suggested a "deep dive" was required.
A spokesman for Mersey Care told the ECHO: "Our thoughts go out to the friends and loved ones of the deceased following this tragic incident.
"This is now a police matter and the Trust are co-operating fully with their investigation.
"We are unable to discuss individual patients because of rules governing patient confidentiality."
"The Trust puts the highest priority on the safety of its patients and service users and our estate is reviewed annually in accordance with health and safety regulations and advice.
“Like many NHS Trusts, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption with access to sites being limited because of outbreaks and infection control protocols but the Trust has a robust plan to implement new technologies that have recently come onto the market at the earliest opportunity.”
Healthcare watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are also involved in investigating the incident.
A spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the death of a patient at Clock View Hospital in Liverpool, and our thoughts are with family and friends at this distressing time.
"Merseyside Police are leading an investigation and we would refer all enquiries to them.
"The CQC is working closely with our partner agencies during this investigation."
