Nadia Shah: Bereaved dad fears teens being 'shoved around'

Nadia Shah's sister described her as "loyal, brave and selfless"

The father of a 16-year-old who died after failures in care said he wanted others to be "looked after without being shoved from place to place".

Nadia Shah, from Cambridge, was detained under the Mental Health Act at Potters Bar Clinic, Hertfordshire after a shortage of emergency permanent beds.

Her father Alkesh said he felt adolescents with mental health issues were being "forgotten about".

The government said it had committed funds to reduce out-of-area placements.

Nadia died in January 2019 after inadequate care, an inquest jury said.

Elysium Healthcare, which runs the Potters Bar Clinic, has apologised for the "shortcomings in care".

An inquest, which concluded on Monday, heard that Nadia, who had complex post-traumatic stress disorder with psychotic features, was "deemed to be a risk to herself".

She had been at clinic since October 2018, and at the time of her death she was being "observed four times an hour".

Nadia Shah was a "beautiful young girl with a heart of gold", her father said

A jury found found multiple failures in Nadia's care, including issues around observations and her care plan.

"The emergency and resuscitation response was lacking and CPR was not carried out properly by the clinic staff," they also found.

Nadia's mother, Lorraine Shah, said she knew about resuscitation and medication having been a carer for 15 years and was "obviously disgusted" by what happened to her daughter.

Jasmine, Nadia's sister, has called for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to "ensure that Elysium faces the full force of the criminal law".

A spokeswoman for the CQC said it could not confirm at this stage whether it would be considering criminal action.

Nadia had spent time at mental health units in Cambridgeshire and Manchester, as well as in Potters Bar.

Mr Shah said he felt that, as things stood, adolescent mental health services across the country were "atrocious".

Alkesh Shah said he feared adolescents with mental health issues are being "forgotten about"

"It feels like [patients] are just sedated, shoved in a room all day and forgotten about," he said.

"She [Nadia] loved and wanted to be loved, and just to make sure that other teenagers can get looked after without being shoved from place to place, that's what I think I want to do this for."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "Every death is a tragedy and our thoughts are with... Nadia's family.

"It is completely unacceptable for patients to be sent far away from their loved ones for treatment and we have committed to end inappropriate out-of-area placements.

"We have published our mental health recovery action plan, backed by £500m, to ensure we have the right support in place this year for those who need it. This plan is in addition to our commitments to expand and transform mental health services with an additional £2.3bn a year by 2023-24."

Cambridgeshire County Council confirmed a safeguarding children practice review was under way and would be published in 2022.