Hospital fined £650,000 after young patient runs away from mental health unit and dies after being hit by train

A major healthcare provider has been fined £650,000 after admitting safety failures in the death of a vulnerable man who escaped from a psychiatric hospital and was hit by a train just hours later.

The Priory Group, one of the UK’s largest private mental health hospitals, was found guilty of putting Matthew Cavey, 23, at Woodbourne Hospital in Birmingham, at risk of serious harm in 2020. Admitted.

His father, Richard Cavey, said the Priory Group had to be “dragged kicking and screaming” to face hard evidence of failings over his son’s care.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, Mr Cavey added that his son had died needlessly and that Priory Healthcare had made his family’s lives “indescribably painful” in the aftermath. Ta.

Personal trainer Kaybee was left alone in a courtyard 14 hours after fleeing the hospital, climbed over a 2.3m high patio fence and was hit by a train. Other patients had previously escaped from the same courtyard.

On Friday, Priory Healthcare was charged with failing to provide safe care and treatment in 2008, “as a result of which Matthew Caseby and other service users were exposed to a significant risk of avoidable harm”. Admitted breaching the Health and Social Care Act. A second charge brought under the same law was also dropped.

The charges follow an investigation into Ms Caseby’s death carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and a three-year campaign by Ms Caseby’s father.

The £650,000 fine is twice the amount imposed on Priory Group following a previous criminal inquiry brought by the CQC.

An inquest in April 2023 found that negligence at the hospital, where Mr Cavey was an NHS-funded patient, contributed to his death.

Following the inquest verdict, Louise Hunt, senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, called on health chiefs to consider imposing minimum standards for perimeter fencing in acute mental health units.

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Opening the case against Priory Healthcare at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, CQC barrister James Marsland said other patients had escaped from the ward in the past.

Marsland said: “There was a courtyard. [on the ward] Services that the user was able to access. Part of the perimeter was a fence, the shortest of which was 2.3 meters high.

“Prosecutors allege that they failed to properly assess risk and failed to provide safe care and treatment.

“The prosecution has not indicated that the defendant will be sentenced for causing Matthew’s death.”

Responding to Rebecca Cresswell, chief executive of Priory Healthcare, who attended the court hearing, Paul Greaney KC said:

“It should be understood by the public that the company does not admit to the charges that it alleges it caused Mr. Cavey’s death.”

Defense lawyers pleaded guilty on the grounds that the company put patients at risk of avoidable harm by failing to fully investigate three previous escapes from the ward, all of which occurred through the same fence. He added that it didn’t happen.

No patients were injured in the first two incidents, in 2018 and 2019. However, in the third incident, which took place in July 2020, a male patient who visited a supermarket suffered a cut on his leg.

Priory Group has previously been fined following prosecutions by the CQC and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The first prize of 2019 was £300,000, which was awarded following the death of 14-year-old Amy Erkelia, who was admitted to Ticehurst Hospital in East Sussex. The second by the HSE in November 2020 followed the death of 21-year-old Fanceska Wyatt, who ended her life at Roehampton Priory Hospital.

In September 2023, a young woman named Amina Ismail died at Priory Cheadle Royal Hospital in Manchester, following three deaths in the previous year.

Mr Cavey, who lived in London, was initially detained under the Mental Health Act five days before his death following reports of a man running onto railway tracks near Oxford.

A Priory spokesperson said: “We express our deepest regrets to Matthew’s family and would like to sincerely apologize for the shortcomings in the care provided to Matthew in 2020. We take our responsibility extremely seriously and have implemented all recommendations.” It was identified during the investigation process and the autopsy of Matthew’s death. ”

He said the changes would include raising the height of the fence at Woodbourne Hospital. He said he had co-operated fully with the CQC investigation.

This article has been updated with comment from The Priory Group.