The mother of a man found dead in an out-of-order shower cubicle at Watford General Hospital has described her relief after hospital representatives issued a formal apology for its failings.

The apology comes three years after Jason Hearn died in May 2009 aged just 22. The driver and motorcycle mechanic of Branch Road, St Albans, was admitted to Watford general on Saturday, May 2, after collapsing at his mother Karen’s home in Mallard Drive, Abbots Langley. He was displaying what would later be referred to in his inquest as "psychotic symptoms".

While in hospital, Jason became distressed and fled the A&E department. He was found by police, detained under the Mental Health Act and returned to hospital.

Hertfordshire Constabulary claimed that a S136 section form was handed to medical staff for Jason, allowing for arrest under the Act for personal and public protection.

Officers should then have stayed with Jason until a psychiatric evaluation had taken place - which could have led to his secure detention.

Instead, the officers left, with the permission of a senior doctor, after being given the impression that Jason was to be evaluated by a psychiatric team in A&E.

That doctor, however, and other medical staff, denied receiving the form, leading to Jason being left alone in the Acute Admissions Unit (AAU).

According to Mrs Hearn, she was told by nurses to take a break and leave Jason at the hospital that evening.

But 30 minutes after returning home, she received a call saying Jason had wanted to go home and left. What ensued was a frantic search for him by family and friends.

Four days after his disappearance, Jason’s body was discovered in a hospital shower cubicle with a "do not use" sign on the door. The cubicle was on the third floor of AAU. The toilets next to the shower were still in use.

An investigation was launched by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and found the police had failed in several areas.

The hospital held an internal review. Despite repeated attempts by Mrs Hearn to find out what happened to her son the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust refused to meet her or discuss the circumstances of her son’s death. Representatives argued Jason was not a patient as he had "discharged himself".

But following a meeting between the NHS Trust, Hertfordshire Partnership Foundation Trust and Mrs Hearn in June, the hospital has now apologised for its failings.

This included communications between the two trusts and Hertfordshire Constabulary , the decision not to search the hospital grounds when Jason left the AAU and the lack of contact between the trusts and the Hearn family.

For the NHS Trust, Dr Colin Johnston said: "The trust very much regrets that there were aspects of the care provided to Jason that fell below the standards that are in place today. "Following Jason’s tragic death much has been done to improve the ways in which both trusts work together to provide more responsive services for people with mental health problems and making sure that they receive the most appropriate care in a timely manner."

Mrs Hearn, 51, said: "The trust has acknowledged a number of failings in the ways in which care was provided to Jason.

"I am pleased, however, that lessons have been learned and am reassured that a similar incident of this type is unlikely to occur in the future. "I am particularly pleased the trust agreed that Jason did not discharge himself, and that the trust have admitted they failed Jason in the care of a vulnerable young man during the nine hours he was a patient.

"I don’t know what prompted this u-turn by the hospital trust, but the pressure from the press and MP Richard Harrington undoubtedly helped.

"I can’t thank everyone enough for their support, particularly Mr Harrington’s office and Julie Nicholson from MIND for attending the meeting with me."