Matthew Caseby: Priory Healthcare fined over patient death failing

A care provider has been fined £650,000 for a safety failing after a patient escaped from a mental health unit and was hit by a train.

Matthew Caseby, 23, from London, was able to leave Priory Hospital Woodbourne in Birmingham in 2020 by scaling a wall from its courtyard.

Priory Healthcare Ltd admitted breaching the 2008 Health and Social Care Act at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Friday, by failing to provide safe care and treatment.

Matthew’s father, Richard, told the court his son died needlessly and the company had tried to “evade accountability for its gross failures.”

An inquest in 2022 found that Mr Caseby was “inappropriately attended” for several minutes, allowing him to leave the hospital.

He had been detained at the hospital under the Mental Health Act after being seen running on railway tracks north of Oxford five days before his death.

On 7 September 2020 he mentioned to a nurse he was a personal trainer and expressed frustration at not being able to get outside and exercise.

He was told by a doctor he could go out into the courtyard to get some fresh air, despite concerns raised by a nurse.

Mr Caseby was escorted outside and supervised initially but would then not return inside and his nurse went to get help, the court heard.

He climbed over the 2.3m (7ft 6in) fence and a day later was hit by a train near Birmingham’s University Railway Station.

James Marsland, prosecuting for the Care Quality Commission (CQC), told Friday’s hearing that the case was being brought for the failings in Mr Caseby’s care, rather than that it caused his death.

It centred on the firm not adequately assessing the risk, amounting to a failure to provide safe treatment.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Caseby’s father Richard said his ability to grieve was stunted for years by Priory Healthcare’s attempts to “hide the facts” about his son’s death and “evade accountability for its gross failures”.

District Judge Shamim Qureshi said Mr Caseby “fought tooth and nail” for the investigation by the coroner and CQC and “here we are today”.

“The attitude and behaviour of the defending company had not been what he expected,” he added.

He said he understood that dealing with patients under the Mental Health Act was “a very difficult area” and a “balance must be found between prison-like conditions or the free rein given to people in hospitals”.

However, confirming a fine of £650,000 and prosecution costs of £43,672, Judge Quereshi said the culpability of harm in this case was high.

After the inquest in 2022, Priory Healthcare said: “We accept that the care provided at Woodbourne in this instance fell below the high standard patients and their families rightly expect from us and we fully recognise that improvements are needed to the service.”