A private sector mental health provider has been hit with a £1.53m fine after pleading guilty in a criminal prosecution brought by the Care Quality Commission over an inpatient’s death.
Cygnet Health Care pleaded guilty to the offence of failing to provide safe care and treatment at its Ealing hospital, after the death of a young woman who was able to take her own life there in July 2019.
It is the largest fine for a mental health service as a result of a prosecution brought by CQC. It follows a £1.5m fine against Essex Partnership University NHS foundation trust in 2021 for lapses in care that led to 11 deaths.
Cygnet Health Care, which is owned by US firm Universal Health Services, acknowledged failing to provide a safe ward environment to reduce the risk of people being able to use a ligature, as well as not ensuring sufficient patient observations in line with the company’s procedures and failures in training staff to be able to resuscitate patients in an emergency.
In 2022, the Guardian revealed that coroners or inquest juries had identified serious failings in the care given to 11 inpatients who were in a Cygnet facility since 2012 and patients at other private mental health providers. In all, the NHS pays private hospitals about £2bn a year for mental health services.
The CQC brought the prosecution over the case of a young woman who was admitted to a ward in Cygnet Hospital Ealing in November 2018, but managed to take her life while on the ward eight months later .
The CQC said Cygnet Ealing were aware the young woman had previously tried to harm herself in an almost identical way, but “failed to mitigate the known environmental risk she was exposed to”. Had the company complied with its statutory obligations, “this young woman would not have been exposed to such a significant risk of harm,” it added.
Jane Ray, CQC deputy director of operations in London, said: “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.
“It is also unacceptable that Cygnet Ealing failed to learn from earlier incidents, which could potentially have avoided this tragic outcome.”
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.
“In court the judge made clear this was not a case of the provider putting profit before safety, and both the judge and the CQC acknowledged the significant improvements and progress made by Cygnet since 2019.”
