Birmingham: Bereaved dad makes plea over Priory mental healthcare

Richard Caseby said he feared more deaths

The father of a patient at a mental health unit who died after absconding says he wants the NHS to stop using private provider Priory to treat people amid a "rollcall of death".

Matthew Caseby escaped over a fence at Priory Hospital Woodbourne in Birmingham in 2020 and was hit by a train.

Priory Healthcare Ltd was fined £650,000 on Friday after admitting a safety failing.

The family has received an apology.

A Priory spokesperson reaffirmed a statement issued following Friday's ruling which stated that responsibilities were taken seriously and an investigation's recommendations had been implemented.

Last year, the government announced a national investigation into mental health inpatient services in both NHS and private sectors in England.

It is to examine how trusts can learn from deaths in their care, how to improve young people's care, and boost the experience of patients being treated far from home.

Private companies operating mental health beds have been reported to receive approximately £2bn of taxpayers' money each year.

Matthew Caseby, a personal trainer, was detained at the hospital under the Mental Health Act after being seen running on railway tracks north of Oxford five days before his death.

He was allowed to get some fresh air with supervision in the unit's courtyard on 7 September 2020 but was ultimately left unattended and escaped.

Matthew Caseby had worked as a personal trainer

He climbed over a 2.3m (7ft 6in) fence and a day later was hit by a train near University railway station in Birmingham.

The care provider admitted breaching the 2008 Health and Social Care Act at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on Friday, by failing to provide safe care and treatment.

Priory describes itself as the leading independent provider of mental healthcare and adult social care in the UK.

Speaking outside the court after proceedings, bereaved Richard Caseby listed several deaths at such facilities in England while sharing his concerns that "the same fatal mistakes are made again and again".

Citing deaths at Priory Cheadle Hospital in Manchester, he said: "This roll call of death and neglect will continue until the government stops the NHS outsourcing mental health services to The Priory."

The Care Quality Commission said in May last year that three wards at Cheadle, the group's largest hospital, "did not always provide safe care".

Mr Caseby claimed the Birmingham facility had the highest rate of absconders in the portfolio and he was "heartbroken" to learn, he said, that nothing was done to improve safety in the months before his son's death.

Following the court finding, the provider said it took its responsibilities extremely seriously and had implemented all the recommendations identified during an investigation process, adding fence heights had been raised although there was no national standards for that in adult acute mental health services.

"We have cared for over 100,000 people in the last five years and remain committed to balancing the need to keep patients safe, with the need for patients to receive the least restrictive care in therapeutic environments which promote their recovery," a spokesperson explained.