Two mental health nurses at an Ipswich mental health unit accused of leaving a mentally ill woman in a locked seclusion room without checking on her for nine hours have claimed their ward was understaffed on the night in question.

The woman, who had been sectioned under the mental health act for her own safety, was a patient on Lark Ward in the Woodlands Unit on the Ipswich Hospital site where Funmilola Dauda and Gbenga Oyewole worked as mental health nurses, Ipswich Crown Court had heard.

Jerry Hayes, prosecuting, said the alleged victim had been placed in seclusion in a locked room with a mattress after trying to escape and scratching a member of staff.

Although the woman was observed on CCTV by a health care assistant, NHS protocol required her to be checked every two hours by two mental health nurses.

Mr Hayes claimed that CCTV showed that the woman was reviewed by the defendants at 10.20pm and wasn’t physically reviewed by them again until 7.20am the next morning.

He alleged that Dauda and Oyewole had stated in written reports that they had physically reviewed the woman at 1.20am, 3.20am and 5.20am.

“We say these are fraudulent and not true because the reviews didn’t take place,” said Mr Hayes.

He said this was supported by CCTV footage and a health care assistant who had been observing the alleged victim during the night.

Dauda, 50, of Prettygate, Colchester and Oyewole, 60, of Fife have pleaded not guilty to wilfully neglecting a patient between November 16 and 19 2019.

The court heard that concerns were raised by a health care assistant and when the defendants were interviewed they denied any wrongdoing.

In police interviews read to court on Thursday the defendants claimed the ward had been understaffed on the night in question and they had relied on what they’d been told about the alleged victim by a health care assistant when they wrote their written reports.

The trial continues.