Private psychiatric hospitals need ‘stricter outdoor security’ rules

A CORONER has urged the Health Secretary to impose stricter security requirements on private psychiatric hospitals, after a patient absconded and was killed by a train.

Matthew Caseby, 23, was able to scale a 7ft fence at a Priory hospital, after he was left unattended outdoors despite being a suicide risk. Almost 20 months on, there is no minimum standard for fences at acute mental health facilities.

After an inquest jury found “neglect” contributed to the death, Louise Hunt, senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, has urged the Department of Health to impose national security guidelines in outdoor areas of mental health units.

Mrs Hunt said “action must be taken to prevent future deaths” in a series of recommendations after the inquest’s findings last week, which included “standard guidelines for the requirements of perimeter fences”.

Mr Caseby, a personal trainer, had been sent to the private Priory Woodbourne hospital in Birmingham by the NHS. Despite having been seen running on a railway line and then sectioned under the Mental Health Act, he was allowed outdoors alone, where he was easily able to scale the fence.

Mrs Hunt listed five areas of concern about Mr Caseby’s care at the Priory, including poor record-keeping, problems with risk assessments and a failure to learn from past incidents.

The inquest heard a patient had scaled the fence in 2019, but “critical lessons” had not been learnt and the fence had not been raised. An expert witness said a fence lower than 3m (9ft 11in) “cannot be reasonably considered as a means of preventing escape”.

Richard Caseby, Matthew’s father, said: “It is disturbing that 20 months after Matthew’s death, the Priory Group is still so complacent it has failed to make the necessary improvements to safety and security... Today, the Woodbourne Priory hospital in Birmingham is dangerous for any patient who has the misfortune to be detained there.”

A spokesman for the Priory Group said the company had increased the fences’ height and changed their design after Mr Caseby’s death.

“We are never complacent, and are carefully studying the coroner’s comments about perimeter fencing which relate to all mental health as well as to Priory Woodbourne, as patient absconds are an issue for all mental healthcare providers,” they added.