Provider fined £600k over death

A provider has been fined more than £600,000 over the death of a 33-year-old mental health patient who sought a private admission after being turned down by the NHS.

Priory Healthcare Limited pled guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment at one of its hospitals in Surrey, resulting in avoidable harm, the regulator has announced.

Staines Magistrates’ Court fined Priory Healthcare Limited £600,000, and ordered it to pay a £2,000 victim surcharge and costs of £11,645. The prosecution was brought by the Care Quality Commission.

Amy Henderson died in March 2022 after she admitted herself to Priory Hospital Woking as a voluntary patient, following a significant deterioration in her mental health, including experiencing suicidal thoughts.

A coroner’s report said: “She was diagnosed with postpartum depression. She was advised to become an informal patient in the NHS, but there was no bed available so she would have had to wait in the hospital until a bed could be found. She decided to seek a private admission the following day.”

On admission, she was assessed as being at high risk. However, a coroner found that neglect had contributed to Ms Henderson’s death, as the hospital had failed to “adequately manage a known and previously identified ligature risk”.

Ligature point audits flagged the risk in March 2020 and May 2021, but no action was taken.

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Source: HSJ, 28 July 2026