Priory fined £650k over ‘needless’ death

A FATHER branded Priory Healthcare ‘calculating, cruel and dangerous’ after the private hospital group was fined £650,000 over the death of his son.

Richard Caseby said his son Matthew, 23, ‘died needlessly’ when he was hit by a train after absconding from a hospital courtyard.

He told how he had been forced to battle for the chain to take accountability over its ‘fatal mistakes’ which were only ‘dragged’ into public focus because he had the time and financial resources to fight.

Priory Healthcare Ltd yesterday admitted a charge under the Health and Social Care Act for exposing personal trainer Matthew to serious risk of harm while he was a patient at the Woodbourne Priory hospital in Birmingham, by failing to provide safe care and treatment. The court heard three other patients had escaped from the hospital over the two years prior to his escape.

Matthew was killed three days after being admitted to the hospital as an NHS patient while in the grip of an acute psychotic episode.

In April 2022, an inquest jury found neglect contributed to Matthew’s death after he was left unattended in a courtyard for four minutes, allowing him to scale a 7ft 6in fence.

In his victim personal statement, Mr Caseby told Birmingham Magistrates Court that he, his wife and two daughters were ‘ignored’ by a company that took advantage of a ‘bereaved family crippled by grief’ to ‘protect its own reputation’.

After the hearing, Mr Caseby said that his family’s ‘relief’ that Priory had been held to account was tempered by the reality that ‘nothing can bring our son back’.

District Judge Shamim Qureshi handed Priory Healthcare a fine of £650,000 and ordered the firm to pay costs of £43,672.65.

‘Neglect contributed to his death’