Provider fined record £1.5m over patient death

Cygnet Healthcare Limited was fined £1.53m at The City of London Magistrates Court this afternoon over the death of a young woman at Cygnet Hospital Ealing in July 2019.

It is the highest ever fine issued to a mental health service following a prosecution by the Care Quality Commission. Essex Partnership University Trust was fined £1.5m by the Health and Safety Executive over care failures that led to 11 deaths in 2021. The largest sum overall appears to be for an acute trust, Dudley Group Foundation Trust, in relation to the death of two patients who had sepsis.

The firm pleaded guilty to one offence of failing to provide safe care and treatment, acknowledging failures to: provide a safe ward environment to reduce the risk of people being able to use a ligature; ensure staff observed people intermittently in line with the company procedures; and train staff to be able to resuscitate patients in an emergency.

The offences related to the case of a young woman who was admitted to a ward in Cygnet Hospital Ealing in November 2018.

In July 2019, she took her own life while on the ward. CQC said Cygnet Ealing had been aware the young woman tried to harm herself in an almost identical way four months earlier, but had failed to mitigate the known environmental risk she was exposed to.

Jane Ray, CQC deputy director of operations in London, said: “This is a tragic case and my thoughts are with this young woman’s family and others grieving for their loss following her death.

“People, especially those at such a frightening, vulnerable time in their life, should be able to expect safe care and treatment, so it’s unacceptable that this young woman’s safety wasn’t well managed by Cygnet Hospital Ealing when she needed them the most. This is why I welcome their guilty plea.”

A spokesperson for Cygnet said: “We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family and all those affected by this very sad death.

“We are committed to learning from this incident and since 2019 we have taken steps to improve practice and ensure the delivery of safe, quality care. We have explained to the court and those involved in this case the steps we have taken in this regard and at the latest regulatory inspection in May 2022, the CQC rated Cygnet Hospital Ealing as ‘good’.

They added: “Whilst this cannot change what has happened, we are not complacent and would wish to take this opportunity to once again convey our regret and condolences to all those affected.”

Cygnet Healthcare is one of the largest providers of private mental health facilities in the UK, running more than 150 services. It holds several contracts with NHS trusts and local authorities, and its services are commonly used by NHS mental health providers to facilitate “inappropriate” out of area placements.