NHS is fined £2m over the deaths of two patients

AN NHS trust was fined £2million yesterday over the ‘entirely preventable’ deaths of two vulnerable patients in its care.

Each death was an ‘unnecessary human tragedy’, a judge said as he sentenced Southern Health NHS Trust.

Connor Sparrowhawk, 18, pictured, who suffered from autism and epilepsy, drowned in a bath in July 2013 after having an epileptic fit at Slade House, a care and assessment unit in Oxford.

Teresa Colvin, 45, died in April 2012 after she was found with a ligature around her neck at Woodhaven Adult Mental Health Hospital in Calmore near Southampton. The trust admited failing to protect her from self-harm.

Yesterday’s sentence at Oxford Crown Court came after years of campaigning by both their families to uncover problems at the trust. Outside court, Connor’s mother, Dr Sara Ryan, a researcher and autism specialist at Oxford University, accused the trust of ‘arming itself with a range of legal weapons and dirty tricks’ after the deaths.

She added: ‘No one should die a preventable death in the care of the state. I’m left thinking if Connor was here now, he would say, “Why Mum?” And I would say, “I don’t know, but we’ve done you proud.”’

Roger Colvin said his wife had been ‘a vivacious, beautiful and loving woman’. He said: ‘We believed the hospital was a place of safety and Southern Health failed her.’

In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Stuart-Smith said the penalty marked ‘the seriousness of the trust’s offending’. It had resisted change and ignored the warnings of employees.

‘They showed a systemic failure and lives have been devastated by the deep and catastrophic losses,’ he said. ‘Mrs Ryan’s statement made for unbearable reading.’

In its submissions to the court, the trust acknowledged the two deaths were ‘entirely preventable’. Dr Nick Broughton, its recently appointed chief executive, said he wanted to ‘apologise unreservedly’.

The trust admitted two counts of failing to discharge its duty. It was fined £1,050,000 over the death of Connor, from Oxford, and £950,000 over the death of Mrs Colvin, from Lyndhurst, Hampshire.