The death of a teenager at a Prestwich mental health unit was "contributed to by neglect", jurors have ruled.

Rowan Thompson, 18, who identified as being non-binary, had been an inpatient on the Gardener Unit at Prestwich Hospital when they died at North Manchester General Hospital on October 3, 2020, following a seizure.

Rowan died days before they were due to stand trial accused of murdering their mother Joanna Thompson in July 2019, the BBC previously reported.

At an inquest at Rochdale Coroner’s Court, jurors heard that Rowan died just hours after a blood test conducted by Salford Royal Hospital found they had dangerously low levels of potassium.

During the inquest, which concluded on Monday, jurors heard that laboratory staff at Salford Royal Hospital, part of Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, made several attempts to contact the Gardener Unit with urgent the blood test results, but ultimately failed to do so.

READ > Hospital failed to send urgent test results before teen's death, inquest hears

Following deliberation, jurors ruled on Monday that "there was a failure by Northern Care Alliance to communicate the blood results and this probably caused on contributed to the death".

During the inquest, which started last week, the jury also heard that Greater Manchester Mental Health failed to keep a correct telephone number for the Gardener Unit on the trust’s website and to provide Salford Royal Hospital with the correct email address when requested by laboratory staff.

The jury ruled that "there was a failure by Greater Manchester Mental Health to provide the correct contact details and this probably caused on contributed to the death".

Rowan, who had been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and depression, was described as “exceptionally bright” by psychiatrist, Dr Naudeep Malik, and died at North Manchester General Hospital the day after the blood test was conducted.

During the inquest, presided by Senior Coroner for Manchester North, Joanne Kearsley, jurors found staff on the ward had falsified observation records on the day of Rowan’s death but agreed "there was no evidence to indicate that any such failure in this regard cause or contributed to Rowan’s death".

Rowan’s medical cause of death was recorded as cardiac arrythmia and severe hypokalaemia of an unknown cause.

The inquest report added: “Rowan’s death was contributed to by neglect due to failure to communicate the findings of blood test.”

At the hearing on Tuesday, October 25, primary nurse Jennifer Kearns told the inquest Rowan was “a great person".

“We got on well,” she said, “[Rowan was] so funny, so energetic, great sense of humour, I’ll never meet another person like Rowan again, so intelligent.”