Priory hospital group fined £300,000 over death of 14-year-old girl Amy El-Keria
Jury inquest in 2016 heard neglect contributed to her death
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The Priory hospital group has been fined £300,000 for breaching health and safety law after 14-year-old Amy El-Keria died in its care.
Amy was being treated at the private mental healthcare group’s Ticehurst House psychiatric hospital in East Sussex when she died in November 2012.
A jury inquest in 2016 heard neglect contributed to her death and found she died accidentally of unintended consequences of a deliberate act.
The Health and Safety Executive pursued a criminal investigation and the company admitted to a charge of being an employer failing to discharge its duty to ensure people were not exposed to health and safety risks.
Judge Mr Justice James Dingemans sentenced the London-based company at Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday.
At an earlier hearing, the court heard that Amy had arrived at the hospital’s high dependency unit on 23 August 2012.
On 12 November, at 8.15pm, she was found in her bedroom with a ligature tied around her neck and taken to Conquest Hospital in Hastings, where she died the following day after life support was withdrawn.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 that information relating to Amy’s care had not been properly handled.
A ligature audit of her room, carried out by an untrained member of staff, identified medium risks that were not followed up.
The hospital was also slow to tackle concerns over risks identified in a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in November 2011.
Details of a conversation on suicide Amy had with a nurse in the early hours of 12 November were not passed on to her doctor.
During sentencing, Judge 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 CQC, that there is now a much better understanding of young person suicide, and that vital lessons have been learned.”
Amy’s mother Tania El-Keria told the court the “nightmare” of losing her “spirited” daughter left her feeling like her “heart and soul is ripped out every morning”.
She admitted to having “low points where I have not wanted to be alive any more just so that I could be with Amy”.
Ms El-Keria added: “I hope that the knowledge gained from this case goes on to change what I see as a failing system and prevents future avoidable deaths.”
At the earlier court hearing, the Priory offered its “sincere apologies” to Amy’s family for “serious failings”.
The 2016 inquest jury’s findings were highly critical of the Priory, ruling staff failed to dial 999 quickly enough, failed to call a doctor promptly and were not trained in CPR.
Staffing levels were inadequate, Amy was not resuscitated properly by staff and had to be removed from the hospital on a body board because the ambulance stretcher could not fit in the lift, it found.
The response of staff was so inadequate the jury agreed there was a possibility that Amy may have lived if she had received proper care.