‘Extremely vulnerable’ hospital patient dies after falling through a roof and into an oven

A vulnerable patient died after he fell through a roof and landed inside a hospital catering oven, an inquest into his death found.

Craig Smith was being treated at Kettering General Hospital in Kettering, England when he absconded from a ward on September 7.

Staff searched the hospital for Smith and found his body inside a catering oven.

An inquest heard he had fallen through the roof of the catering department and landed inside the large metal cooker.

Opening the inquest at Northampton’s town hall, Northamptonshire’s senior coroner Anne Pember said: “Craig Smith died on Saturday, September 7, 2024, at Kettering General Hospital.

“He was extremely vulnerable. They did a thorough search of the hospital and a search of his home address.

“It was not until just after 4 a.m. that a roof was found with a hole in it. He had fallen into the kitchen below into a large oven.”

Smith’s age was not revealed, but he was a Kettering resident.

The inquest heard Smith had been admitted to Clifford Ward, a medical short stay unit, on Thursday, Sept. 5.

No provisional cause of death was given but toxicology and histology tests were ordered.

Pember adjourned the inquest until March 20 next year and ordered that his body can be released to the family.

Northamptonshire Police investigators did not treat the death as suspicious.