My troubled daughter died because Priory put profit before care
Mother’s outrage as health firm fined £300k
A MOTHER demanded yesterday that the Priory hospital group be stripped of its NHS contract after it was fined £300,000 over the death of her daughter in its care.
Amy El-Keria, 14, who was being treated for mental health problems, was found hanged in her room hours after telling staff she wanted to kill herself.
An inquest found a catalogue of errors and neglect at the Priory Group’s Ticehurst House hospital near Wadhurst, East Sussex, had contributed to her death.
The Health and Safety Executive launched a prosecution and earlier this year the company admitted failing to discharge general health and safety duty to a person other than an employee.
Passing sentence at Lewes Crown Court yesterday, Mr Justice James Dingemans said the Priory Group had been culpable in Amy’s death in November 2012.
He cited a failure to remove ligature points in patients’ rooms despite the problem being identified during a Care Quality Commission inspection a year before the tragedy.
He said: ‘ They only took action after the death. There was, in my judgment, insufficient urgency demonstrated in dealing with these problems.’
In addition to the fine, he ordered the Priory Group to pay £65,807 costs and a £120 victim surcharge.
After yesterday’s hearing Amy’s mother Tania El-Keria condemned the private healthcare company, which is known for treating celebrities with addiction issues but also runs mental health services as part of a contract with the NHS. Mrs El- Keria, who spoke alongside her other daughter Gemma Levy, said: ‘To us the Priory are a morally bankrupt company. They take large sums of public money, allowing our children to suffer by putting profit over safety. ‘This cannot be allowed to continue and I will not stop fighting until this stops. They are killing our children and vulnerable people in these places and the contract should not carry on between the NHS and the Priory.’
She added: ‘Our Amy died in what we know to be a criminally unsafe hospital. This whole painful process has been marked by the Priory’s long and bitter failure to show any remorse or responsibility.’
After Amy’s death, a jury inquest concluded hospital staff failed to dial 999 quickly enough when she was found in her room, did not call a doctor promptly and were not trained in CPR techniques. The jury ruled Amy died of unintended consequences of a deliberate act, contributed to by neglect.
After yesterday’s hearing, Priory Group chief executive Trevor Torrington said in a statement: ‘We would like to repeat our sincere and profound apologies to Amy’s family. We note the findings of Mr Justice Dingemans.
‘Overall, the court found that Priory Healthcare had co-operated with the HSE investigation and pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity.’