A Burnley woman who went through a period of repeating patterns of overdosing and being admitted to hospital in the year to her death was found on the stairs in her property, an inquest has heard.

An inquest at Accrington Town Hall heard how on December 19, 2022, police were called to the property of Lisa Marie Hughes, 33.

This was due to a concern for welfare from the Lancashire Early Intervention Service (EIS), which Ms Hughes was accessing support through.

The team couldn’t get in contact with Ms Hughes to provide her with her medication which occurred on a fortnightly basis.

Concerns were high so the EIS team made a welfare call to the police. The police attended the address and forced entry to the property and found Ms Hughes part way down the stairs.

Her appearance looked like she had possibly fallen, and the police undertook an investigation.

No criminal or third-party involvement was found, the flat was locked when they arrived and Ms Hughes had no external injuries.

A CT scan was carried out as part of the post-mortem examination, which found minor injuries with a fall but not the cause of death. The CT scan also showed a diffusely fatty liver which is from high alcohol consumption.

A toxicology report was requested however no samples could be obtained. Coroner Sian Jones stated there was a ‘black hole of information around that’ and the toxicology ‘may well have been key’.

During the inquest, Ms Jones looked back on the medical history of Ms Hughes.

Ms Jones said Ms Hughes was caught in a repeating pattern over the year to her death from December 2021 to August 2022 and each time Ms Hughes did take an overdose she called for help and told the early intervention service what she had done.

The inquest heard how between December 2021 and August 2022, Ms Hughes had overdosed on multiple occasions and would ring the EIS for support straight away who would then call 999.

She was taken to hospital and was admitted for a period of time before either being discharged or self-discharging herself against medical advice, but she was in the capacity to do so.

On multiple occasions Ms Hughes was also provided support from the Mental Health Liaison Team when admitted to the Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Over the year period from December 2021 to December 2022, Ms Hughes was under the care of EIS and had the benefit of a caseworker.

EIS over a period of time recognised Ms Hughes’ patterns and triggers and found she was better suited to get support from the community mental health team and Inspire, and she was placed on a waiting list.

While they waited for a place to open up for Ms Hughes, EIS remained providing care and support and provided her with medication injections fortnightly.

EIS found that Ms Hughes’ struggles were not psychotic, but her difficulties were more in line with emotions and struggling with anxiety and her property appeared to be a ‘trigger’ as Ms Hughes didn’t feel capable of living alone.

In late August 2022, Ms Hughes discharged herself from hospital after being admitted in early July, against medical advice and against the advice to go to rehab but continued to access support from the EIS team.

From that period to her death Ms Hughes then remained crisis free, she didn’t repeat her usual pattern of overdose and admission and at the time there were no signs of illicit drug use or overdose attempts.

The early intervention service continued to provide support.

In early December 2022, during the last face to face meeting for medication before Ms Hughes died, there were no concerns raised by the practitioner.

Concluding the inquest, Ms Jones said there was no suggestion of intentional self-harm, no drugs were found in the property, no phone call was made like her normal pattern, there was no apparent self-harm, and the police were satisfied there was no third-party involvement.

The coroner said it was not suicide or third party and she couldn’t say what was the cause of death, so she ruled it as an open conclusion.

Ms Jones said: “On December 19, Lisa Marie Hughes was found deceased at home on the stairs, positioning suggested a fall, but investigations have not been able to establish either the circumstances or medical cause of death.”