Private mental healthcare group The Priory has been fined £300,000 at Lewes Crown Court for breaching health and safety law after a 14-year-old girl died in its care.
The firm admitted the offence following a criminal investigation into the death of Amy El-Keria in November 2012.
The teenager, who had a history of suicide attempts, had been sent to the group’s Ticehurst House psychiatric hospital in East Sussex less than three months before.
Sentencing, Judge Mr Justice James Dingemans said: “It is obvious that any penalty I impose can never reflect the loss suffered by Amy’s family in this case.
“Amy’s mother, when giving her victim impact statement, said that she hoped that lessons would be learned from this tragedy.
“It is apparent from the investigations that have been carried out in Amy’s death, and the works carried out by Priory Healthcare and the Care Quality Commission (CQC), that there is now a much better understanding of young person suicide, and that vital lessons have been learned.”
The judge said he was “unable to be sure… that the offence was a cause of Amy’s death”.
He concluded that there was a “low likelihood” of harm in the case but culpability should be assessed as “high” as patients including Amy were exposed to risks to their health and safety.
“This is because Priory Healthcare permitted these breaches to persist over a long period of time, from the opening of the HDU in 2008 until Amy’s death in 2012,” he said.
“They only took action after her death. Further, Priory Healthcare failed to make appropriate changes when required to do so by the CQC.
“There was, in my judgment, insufficient urgency demonstrated in dealing with these problems.”
Mr Justice Dingemans said Priory Healthcare had a turnover of £133 million in 2017, with an operating profit of £2 million that year.
He said he was unable to find any aggravating factors and he took into account the company’s guilty plea, lack of previous convictions, “good” health and safety record and its steps to close and refurbish the unit where Amy lived.
The private mental healthcare provider was also ordered to pay the Health and Safety Executive’s costs of £65,801.38 and a victim surcharge of £120.
Speaking outside court, Amy’s mother Tania El-Keria said: “The public’s eye has been firmly opened to what the Priory stand for, profit over safety.
“Today is a historic day in our fight for justice for Amy.
“Our Amy died in what we know to be a criminally unsafe hospital being run by the Priory.”
In a statement, Priory Group CEO Trevor Torrington said: “We would like to repeat our sincere and profound apologies to Amy’s family.”
Torrington added: “There was common ground between the experts that the care planning was of good quality, that the suicide of 14-year-olds is extremely rare and prediction is likely to be extremely difficult.
“Priory Healthcare accepts there were certain risk management procedures in 2012 in relation to environmental audits and BLS training which were not robust enough.
“However, the court found such shortcomings were not causative of Amy’s tragic death.”
The company has since taken steps to improve training and support for staff to manage patients at risk of self harm, Torrington said.
The latest CQC report rated Ticehurst hospital as “good” and staff were focused on patient safety and learning lessons from incidents.
A strategic review of in-patient CAMHS services will be undertaken.
At an earlier hearing, the court heard Amy was admitted to the hospital’s High Dependency Unit on August 23 2012.
On November 12, at 8.15pm, she was found in her bedroom and taken to Conquest Hospital in Hastings, where she died the following day after life support was withdrawn.
Prosecutor Sarah Le Fevre told the court hospital staff were not adequately trained in identifying, assessing and responding to specific risks related to her cause her death.
She said a safety audit of Amy’s room, carried out a few days before her death by an untrained member of staff, identified some medium risks which were not followed up.
The court also heard that a CQC inspection of the hospital in November 2011 identified specific risk concerns, which staff had failed to remedy by the time of another inspection in June 2012.
Le Fevre also claimed the hospital was aware of products available that could have been installed to make rooms safer.
At a hearing earlier this week, the court heard the Priory Group had offered “their sincere apologies to Amy’s family for the failings that this case has underlined”.
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