Gaia Pope: doctor tells inquest of ‘failure of communication’ within NHS

Neurologist who treated Dorset teenager before her death in 2017 says he was not told when her mental health declined

A leading neurologist who treated the Dorset teenager Gaia Pope has told an inquest jury there was a failure of communication" within the NHS, after revealing he was not told her mental health had declined shortly before she died.

Matthew Walker, a professor of neurology at University College London, accepted that a chance to review Pope's care when she was taken to hospital after a psychiatric episode a few weeks before her death was missed because the hospital did not contact him.