A NEW inquiry has been launched into the death of a 23-year-old man with cerebral palsy in a supported living home.

Nico Reed died at Barrantynes, in Chalgrove, in August 2012 after suffering aspiration, which happens when regurgitated food enters the lungs.

He had recently been moved from Penhurst School in Chipping Norton, where he had spent 17 years, and his mother Rosi said his health and happiness quickly went downhill after the move.

At the inquest into his death last December the coroner said Mr Reed’s life might have been saved if he had been checked in line with recommendations made in his care package.

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But it has now emerged that Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG) and NHS England have launched an independent investigation into his death.

OCCG confirmed that the Health and Social Care Advisory Service (HSCAS) will carry out the probe, to take between six and eight months.

Mrs Reed has been fighting to get answers about her son’s death and met Andrea Sutcliffe of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last month.

Mrs Reed, who runs a blog, Justice for Nico, is campaigning to make it harder for registered care homes to turn into supported living homes as they are then not inspected by the health watchdog.

She said: “It was plain everyone in that meeting wanted the same thing – to get it right to prevent needless worry, suffering and death.

“Everyone knew what the problems were, but we were there to see if we could come up with solutions.

“I said in the meeting: ‘Right, now as we sit here, somewhere in a supported living home and maybe in more than one, someone is being bullied, being abused, threatened, having their fingers bent back or dropped into a bath of scalding water. Someone is crying out for help that never comes. More deaths waiting to happen. We haven’t got time to waste. Someone could die while we sit in this room tonight. We have to act now’.”

Mrs Reed is working with the CQC on a guide on how people can contact the watchdog if there is a concern with care in a supported living home. She said: “If we can get this right it might save a life. It might keep one more Nico here with us safe and in the world.”

Lesley Stevens, medical director at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Nothing is more important to us than people who use our services receiving safe, high quality care. We fully support the independent investigation into Nico Reed’s death, which we understand will consider all parts of the system involved in his care. We will provide all information required.”