A "one in a million" teacher was found dead on a beach days after she had been discharged from a mental health ward, an inquest has heard.
Elin Boyle, 43, who was a teacher at Ysgol Gyfun Plasmawr secondary school in Cardiff, was found dead on March 17, 2019, by a member of the coastguard at Nash Point in the Vale of Glamorgan, south east Wales.
This was five days after she was reported as missing by her family, Wales Online reported.
An inquest at Pontypridd Coroners’ Court heard how Mrs Boyle had gone missing on multiple occasions prior to her death and was found at various coastal locations in south Wales and further afield including once in Weston-Super-Mare.
On some of those occasions she had expressed wanting to take her own life and had been annoyed to have been discovered, the court heard.
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Following a post-mortem examination it was confirmed that Mrs Boyle had suffered a blunt head injury prior to her death.
She also had an appreciable amount of alcohol in her blood equating to 77mg per 100ml, consistent with mild drunkenness.
Ms Boyle had been receiving treatment on a specialist mental health ward at Hafan y Coed at Llandough Hospital but was discharged on March 7.
She had also become embarrassed at police press releases appealing for information on her whereabouts because she didn’t want her disappearances to be known to others – especially students at her school.
On being discharged from Llandough Hospital after around two months attending on a voluntary basis the court heard how a plan had been agreed with Mrs Boyle for her discharge but she didn’t attend her discharge meeting and was later found in Swansea.
Her family questioned why Mrs Boyle hadn’t been detained at the hospital under the Mental Health Act to which staff responded that detaining Mrs Boyle wasn’t deemed in her best interests.
In fact Mrs Boyle was seen as one of the more well patients on the ward and due to that was sometimes moved to sleep on different wards due to a lack of beds.
Mental health clinical lead for the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Jayne Bell said: “It is a very sad fact of mental health nursing that we do not have enough beds.”
The court heard how Mrs Boyle had obvious concerns about leaving hospital, with coroner Dr Sarah-Jane Richards describing it as a “very anxiety-involving scenario for her”.
In a statement Mrs Boyle’s sister Anwen Charles said: “They discharged her in her absence and she felt neglected.”
Nurse Hannah James, who was tasked with caring for Mrs Boyle weekly at her home following her discharge, said Mrs Boyle posed a risk of suicide at the point she was discharged but that she was satisfied that her care plan was appropriate.
The court heard how on the day of her discharge she wasn’t given diazepam which Dr Richards said “was needed”. Mrs Boyle’s husband Jonathan Boyle said he had to help her organise an urgent meeting with a doctor to get a prescription for the medication.
Following internal investigations Mrs Bell said the health board was satisfied that Mrs Boyle’s care was of a good standard.
In a statement, Mrs Boyle's family, who said she was "one in a million," added: "Our only consolation is that she is now at peace."
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