Priory care group has been fined £650,000 over the patient’s death

Healthcare group Priory has been fined more than £650,000 over the death of a 23-year-old patient who was hit by a train after absconding from a psychiatric hospital.

Matthew Caseby, a personal trainer, was able to leave Priory Hospital Woodbourne in Birmingham by climbing a wall in September 2020 after being “inappropriately unattended” in September 2020, an inquest jury heard in 2022.

The healthcare company pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday to a criminal safety failure relating to the death of a patient, contrary to the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Priory’s lawyer, Paul Greaney KC, entered the guilty plea on behalf of the company. A second charge under the same law was dropped.

With the costs, Priory is facing a total bill of £693,852.

The London-based provider was charged following an investigation into Caseby’s death conducted by the Care Quality Commission.

The 23-year-old University of Birmingham graduate was detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act after being seen on the railway tracks near Oxford five days before his death.

He climbed over the 2.3 meter high fence after being left alone in a courtyard.

Caseby’s father, Richard Caseby, who had campaigned for the healthcare organization to be prosecuted, told the court the company was trying to “evade responsibility for its gross failures”.

In a victim impact statement he presented on Friday as part of the prosecution, he said: “I found it incredible that a private company commissioned by the NHS to care for the most vulnerable mental health patients in the biggest crisis of their lives could do this are. cruel and resort to such desperate tactics to hide the truth.”

Speaking after the sentencing, Richard Caseby said: “My family are relieved that the Priory has finally been held to account for its criminal neglect.

“However, the prosecution for Matthew’s death brings no real satisfaction, because of course nothing can bring our son back… (and) the same fatal mistakes are made again and again.

“The Priory was prosecuted and fined £300,000 for the death of Amy El-Keria; it was fined £140,000 for the death of Francesca Whyatt and today it was fined £650,000 over Matthew’s death.

“This roll call of death and neglect will continue until the government stops outsourcing mental health services to the Priory.”

At Friday’s court hearing, the lawyer said the company had pleaded guilty on the grounds that it had exposed service users to a risk of avoidable harm by failing to carry out a full review of three previous abscondings from the department, not all of which took place. over the same fence.

After the verdict, senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, Louise Hunt, urged health officials to consider imposing minimum standards for perimeter fencing at acute mental health units.