System failed our daughter, say parents, as NHS trust fined £200,000 over death

Ellame Ford-Dunn, 16, who died in March 2022, had been a patient at Bluefin acute children’s ward in Worthing hospital. Photograph: Inquest handout

A girl who killed herself when she absconded from 24-hour clinical supervision was failed by a system that was meant to protect her, her parents have said, after the NHS trust involved was fined over the avoidable death.

Ellame Ford-Dunn, 16, who suffered with severe mental health problems, died on 20 March 2022, minutes after leaving the Bluefin acute children’s ward in Worthing hospital, part of University hospitals Sussex NHS trust (UHSussex).