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A CARE firm making tens of millions from the NHS was last night facing urgent questions after two vulnerable teens died on its watch.
Inquests held just seven days apart heard how Nadia Shah, 16, and 19-yearold Leon Tasi were found with ligatures round their neck at clinics run by private company Elysium Healthcare.
In both cases juries were told inadequate checks had been made on the pair.
Nadia’s heartbroken mother Lorraine told the Sunday Mirror: “We’ve had two inquests in two weeks. That can’t be a coincidence. Elysium are making vast amounts of money out of our children and not caring for them properly.
“We keep on having these deaths but nobody seems to care. Public money is being paid to these firms and nobody holds them to account.” The devastated mum is now calling for the Care Quality Commission to prosecute the company.
Nadia died in 2019 at a clinic in Potters Bar, Herts. Leon took his life last year at Chadwick Lodge in Milton Keynes.
Lorraine said Nadia had everything to live for and had started training as a social worker. She was detained under the Mental Health Act due to post traumatic stress and a personality disorder.
An inquest jury ruled the youngster had been failed by the clinic.
Nadia should have been checked every 15 minutes to make sure she didn’t harm herself, it was said.
DELAY
But when she was found with a towel around her neck as a ligature, she hadn’t been monitored for 19 minutes. A “chaotic” scene then led to a delay in Nadia receiving basic life support.
A healthcare worker who found her said she still had a pulse and was breathing. But there was a crucial delay of four minutes before CPR was started.
She suffered a cardiac arrest that led to severe brain damage – and she died in hospital two days later. An intensive care consultant said Nadia would probably have been saved if appropriate life support was given when staff found her.
The inquest jury concluded her death was caused by misadventure contributed to by inadequate care.
The jury highlighted “unsatisfactory implementation of the care plan... and failure to adequately report observations to properly inform assessment of risk”.
It said: “The emergency and resuscitation response was lacking and CPR was not carried out properly by staff.”
Lorraine, a 48-year-old carer from Cambridge, said: “It beggars belief that a hospital does not know the importance of immediately starting CPR. That delay cost my daughter her life.
“Yes, Nadia was unwell and took a risk tying material around her neck. But she definitely wanted to live. Ligaturing was a way of saying there was something wrong and attracting attention.”
The inquest was told Elysium staff, including nurses and a doctor, should have been able to provide standard life support procedures in a secure mental health unit. But, despite training, they were unable to do so, it was said.
The jury also heard the doctor at the scene should have had updated life support training a year earlier.
At Leon’s inquest, a coroner was told staff gave him back his belt – which he then used to hang himself.
He had been detained under the mental health act. Staff had failed to carry out an hourly visual check to see that he was safe, the inquest was told.
A jury returned a conclusion of suicide while suffering from a psychiatric illness. His mother Linda, from Ladbroke Grove, West London, said: “The pain of missing Leon is still present. He has missed out on a life of new experiences, relationships, having his own children and growing old with loved ones.”
Family solicitor Jenny Fraser added: “This is yet another tragedy of a life lost.”
Nadia’s mum added: “I feel for the parents of other children who have died
in Elysium’s care. It must have been dreadful for Leon’s mum and dad to know there had been another death.”
Lorraine wants the Care Quality Commission to prosecute Elysium over failings. She added: “Nadia had completed a health and social care diploma while in hospital and had plans to qualify as a social worker.
“We had a positive conversation about Nadia seeking apprenticeships before she returned to the clinic after a weekend home visit.
“Her desire was to help others in her position and she was very much looking forward to the future. It’s been awful having to go through everything again at the inquest and hear how she would probably have survived.” The Shahs’ solicitor, Tony Murphy, said: “The CQC has been monitoring inquest proceedings with a view to considering whether Elysium should face prosecution for any health and safety breaches which contributed to Nadia’s death. The family seeks an early meeting with the CQC to ensure justice is served without delay.”
Deborah Coles, director of the charity Inquest which supports families, said: “Inquests consistently expose that these private providers are failing, while they continue to make profit and win contracts.
FAILURES
“Ministers and regulators are failing to respond to repeated failures and hold companies to account. We cannot continue to allow companies to put profits before children’s safety.”
Last year Elysium – whose mission statement hails it as “outstanding at what we do” – had 1,773 patients in 69 facilities. Its parent firm raked in £620million in two years.
Chartered accountant Joy Chamberlain, 57, is chief executive and led the formation of Elysium in 2016 when it acquired 22 Priory and Partnerships in Care hospitals for £300million.
Companies House records show it is backed by investment firm BC Partners, with an ultimate parent company in low-tax Luxembourg.
The equity firm, said to be worth $40billion, was linked with a takeover of soccer giant Inter Milan.
In relation to Nadia’s death, Elysium said: “This was an utterly tragic incident and we apologise wholeheartedly for the shortcomings in care identified by the inquest. As a direct result of Nadia’s death, we immediately undertook a full review of our policies and procedures regarding patient observations and the training and delivery of life-saving measures.
“Crucially, we have increased the number of life support drills for all team members. These important learnings have also been shared throughout our services in the years since this tragic incident.”
And in relation to Leon they said: “We continue to send our most heartfelt condolences to Mr Tasi’s family and friends.
“Leon will forever remain in the thoughts and prayers of the entire care team who had grown immensely fond of him during his time at the hospital.”