"An NHS trust has been fined 200,000 for failing to provide "safe care and treatment" for a 16-year-old girl who died on hospital grounds after fleeing her ward. Ellame Ford-Dunn, from Upper Beeding, West Sussex, died at Worthing Hospital in March 2022 where she had been admitted as a mental health inpatient. She ran into the grounds of the hospital and was not immediately followed by a nurse because of "confusion" and a lack of appropriate procedure in place, the court heard."
"Last month, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust (UHST) pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment to Ellame which exposed her to a significant risk of "avoidable harm". BBC / Juliette Parkin At the sentencing on Wednesday at Brighton Magistrates' Court, District Judge Tessa Szagun said "clear instructions to follow Ellame" if she left the ward "should have been incorporated" into the care plan. Ellame had been under 24-hour one-to-one supervision by a registered mental health nurse on an acute ward at Worthing"
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust pleaded guilty and was fined £200,000 for failing to provide safe care and treatment that exposed 16-year-old Ellame Ford-Dunn to significant risk of avoidable harm. Ellame, admitted as a mental health inpatient in March 2022, ran into hospital grounds and was not immediately followed by a nurse due to confusion and a lack of appropriate procedure. She had been under 24-hour one-to-one supervision on an acute ward because no alternative or adequate tier-four bed was available for her risk level. The court noted that clear instructions to follow her should have been incorporated into her care plan. Prosecution acknowledged national shortages of tier-four beds.
Read at www.bbc.com
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