{"id":288543,"date":"2025-11-28T21:08:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T21:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/288543\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T21:08:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T21:08:23","slug":"system-failed-our-daughter-say-parents-as-nhs-trust-fined-200000-over-death-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/288543\/","title":{"rendered":"System failed our daughter, say parents, as NHS trust fined \u00a3200,000 over death | NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> trust involved was fined over the avoidable death.<\/p>\n

Ellame Ford-Dunn, 16, who suffered with severe mental health problems, died on 20 March 2022, minutes after leaving the Bluefin acute children\u2019s ward in Worthing hospital, part of University hospitals Sussex NHS trust (UHSussex).<\/p>\n

The supervising agency nurse watched Ellame leave the ward but did not follow her because she said she had been instructed not to leave the ward if a patient absconded, Brighton magistrates court was told last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday the trust was fined \u00a3200,000 plus costs by the district judge Tessa Szagun for criminal health and safety offences over Ellame\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Her parents, Nancy and Ken Ford-Dunn, said the prosecution, which was brought by the hospital regulator the Care Quality Commission, confirmed that their daughter had been \u201cfailed by a system that was meant to protect her\u201d.<\/p>\n

The trust had pleaded guilty to a failure to provide safe care and treatment resulting in avoidable harm. In mitigation it said the ward was not equipped to deal with vulnerable mental health patients but that the trust had accepted Ellame amid a national shortage of mental health beds for children and adolescents.<\/p>\n

Judge Szagun said: \u201cAny organisation entrusted with the care of amongst the most vulnerable in society \u2026 should be alert to and proactive to changes in advice and guidance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat should have covered the recognition of the increased pressures and demands being placed on such wards by the need for them to accommodate the more risky and needy patients such as Ellame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellame\u2019s parents expressed fury at trust\u2019s failure to prevent their daughter\u2019s death. In a statement read outside the court, her father, Ken, said: \u201cThere is no greater heartbreak than losing a child, but to lose a child you believed was being kept safe creates a pain beyond measure, and a deep, searing anger.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged the government to use the fine to improve children\u2019s mental health provision. \u201cNo financial penalty could ever feel proportionate to the destruction that has been caused. We would take some comfort were the secretary for health to direct the funds toward strengthening children\u2019s mental health services, an area in such urgent need of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family is pursuing a separate claim for damages against the trust. Ellame\u2019s mother added: \u201cWe do not want to say more at this stage as we do not want to risk jeopardising the ongoing legal proceedings. This prosecution is an important step in highlighting just one of the many failings in Ellame\u2019s care and brings a first taste of justice on behalf of our darling girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jodie Anderson, a senior caseworker at the charity Inquest, which has been supporting the family, said: \u201cWe need urgent action to ensure further failures and harms by mental health services are prevented, and to ensure every child and young person in distress receives the care and support they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

At last month\u2019s hearing the trust pleaded guilty to a failure to provide safe care and treatment, resulting in avoidable harm. Eleanor Sanderson, the counsel for UHSussex, told the hearing: \u201cThe trust accepts the core failing was the 2019 missing patient policy. It wasn\u2019t clear about what to do when a patient absconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maggie Davies, chief nurse at UHSussex, said: \u201cEveryone accepts that people with acute mental illness should not be in general hospital wards or A&E departments, but that does not lessen our duty to keep patients safe whilst efforts are made to provide them with more appropriate care.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Ellame\u2019s death, we have made significant improvements to our policies, training, and ward environments to prevent anything like this happening again. Today\u2019s sentencing reflects the seriousness of what happened, and we remain committed to working with our NHS partners to learn from this tragedy, and for us all to find better ways of caring for patients who are vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

An inquest into Ellame\u2019s death opened last year. It was adjourned pending the outcome of the prosecution.<\/p>\n

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A girl who killed herself when she absconded from 24-hour clinical supervision was failed by a system that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-288543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}