A Birmingham NHS Trust sends vulnerable patients to Priory Group Hospitals - two have died.
The Priory has been fined £650k for its failures. But what role has the Trust played in the tragedies?
Good morning Patchers — welcome to your Thursday briefing.
In 2020, Matthew Caseby was a 23-year-old man suffering a mental health crisis that made him very vulnerable. He was put into the care of the Priory Hospital Woodbourne in Harborne — three days later he escaped, was hit by a train and died. The Priory was recently fined for its failings, but what about Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Trust which put Matthew in their care? And why did they send another patient, Amina Ismail, to a Priory Hospital where three young women had recently died? Today we consider if the Trust is dangerously disconnected from the Priory hospitals it sends patients to.
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Brum in brief
🥊Revolt! Several Labour council leaders and portfolio holders at the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) have publicly declared no confidence in Mayor Andy Street. Birmingham’s leader, Councillor John Cotton, shared their letter to the Conservative mayor online last night. Shots were fired at Street’s alleged habit of “taking credit” for projects he has no oversight of, his “adversarial rhetoric”, and the “unfounded” claims of success he makes while campaigning. They also said he is using the “crisis in local government” for “political gain” and that retaining £2.2 million in campaign contributions from the Conservative Party contradicts his supposedly neutral position. Members from four of the seven constituent councils signed the letter which seems strategically timed as the mayoral campaigns get underway. We await Street’s response which, at the time of writing, is yet to appear.
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📺Enjoy yourself: More Birmingham culture, more historical fiction! Steven Knight’s Two-Tone drama This Town starts on BBC One and iPlayer on Monday. Here is the man himself discussing his latest TV creation:
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A Birmingham NHS Trust sends vulnerable patients to Priory Group Hospitals — at least two have died.
By Kate Knowles
On the morning of 8 September 2020, Richard Caseby was searching the grounds of a University of Birmingham halls of residence for his 23-year-old son Matthew. The previous day, Richard had received an unexpected phone call from Birmingham’s Priory Woodbourne Hospital, a private healthcare provider. Matthew, an NHS patient at the Priory, had escaped the grounds by scaling a fence. Staff had no idea where he was. Richard immediately jumped in his car and made the journey from the family home in South East London up to the West Midlands, intent on finding him.
At 08:47, 14 hours after he went missing, Matthew was hit by a train and killed. His father was still looking for him when it happened. Although Richard didn’t know it at the time — the railway track was hidden by a culvert — he was just 200 yards away.
Matthew, who had never had a medical diagnosis or treatment for a mental health issue, had been admitted to the Priory Woodbourne after suffering a psychotic episode. Police detained him in a small village near Oxford following reports of him running on railway tracks. He had been on the way to visit a friend outside of London.
Although Matthew lived with his family, he was still registered at the same GP he had used as a student in Birmingham. That’s why when doctors assessed Matthew as a suicide risk and sectioned him under the Mental Health Act for his safety, he was transferred to the care of Forward Thinking Birmingham (FTB). FTB is a mental health service for young people up to the age of 25, made up of public and private providers: Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust (BWC), Simplify Health, The Children’s Society, and The Priory.
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