Health trust fined £215,000 after patient deaths

Christie Harnett, 17, had been in care facilities for two years when she died

A mental health trust has been ordered to pay £215,000 for safety failings which contributed to the deaths of two vulnerable patients.

Christie Harnett, 17, and an unnamed woman both took their own lives at separate hospitals in Middlesbrough, run by Tees Esk and Wear Valleys Trust.

At a sentencing hearing at Teesside Magistrates' Court, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the trust failed to address ligature risks, carried out inadequate observations and underestimated the risk of self-harm.

The trust offered its "heartfelt apologies" and said its thoughts were with "both families at this difficult time".

Christie Harnett, from Newton Aycliffe, took her own life at West Lane Hospital, Middlesbrough, in June 2019.

Her family said Friday’s fine meant nothing, because there had been no accountability for the failings over many years.

West Lane Hospital has since been renamed Acklam Road Hospital

Casey Tremain, Christie’s grandmother, said: "People have lost their lives, there’s been horrific care, but nobody at the top has gone."

In a statement read in court, Christie’s stepfather Michael Harnett described her as "a happy child” who dreamed of becoming a singer.

“The day Christie went into hospital was the start of the worst period of our lives,” Mr Harnett said.

“Sometimes we would travel for an hour to see her, only to be turned away because Christie had misbehaved.”

He described watching his daughter “climb over a fence" to try to see them on those occasions, and told how seeing her “covered in scratches, cuts and bruises” during visits was “traumatising”.

Last year, an independent inquiry described care at West Lane as "chaotic and unsafe". It was then closed.

It reopened under the name Acklam Road Hospital and is now run by a different trust.

Patient X

Patient X took her own life at Roseberry Park, another of the trust’s hospitals, in November 2020.

She is not being named to protect her family’s identity.

Her mother is now bringing up Patient X's children.

"She came home in a box because they didn’t do their jobs," her mother said.

She believes her daughter was "just a name" on a file to the trust.

"My daughter means nothing to them. She was a loving, caring mother," she said.

"The youngest still thinks she’s going to come out of hospital one day.

"Even though we’ve explained she’s in the stars and can’t come back."

'Heartfelt apologies'

Brent Kilmurray, the chief executive of Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Trust, admitted the trust did not provide the care the two young women deserved and said the guilty pleas reflected that.

"Of course, that’s no consultation for Patient X and Christie’s loved ones, for which I offer our heartfelt apologies," he said.

The trust said the CQC had acknowledged improvements had been made in its latest inspection.

"But today is about us being accountable and our thoughts are with the families at this incredibly difficult time," Mr Kilmurray said.

The CEO made no comment when asked if he would follow both families' wishes and resign.

In a statement released after the hearing, Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald said that while he had been a vocal critic of the trust, taking money out of it was not the “right response”.

“That doesn’t help them in any way improve on the delivery of services,” he said. “There must be a better way than this to admonish a trust who have failed in their care of patients."

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit BBC Action Line.