An NHS trust has pleaded guilty to safety failures after a 16-year-old girl with severe mental health problems killed herself shortly after absconding from a hospital ward. Ellame Ford-Dunn died on 20 March 2022, minutes after leaving the Bluefin acute children's ward at Worthing Hospital, part of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust (UHSussex).
Brighton Magistrates' Court heard that a supervising agency nurse watched Ellame leave but did not follow her, believing she had been instructed not to leave the ward if a patient absconded. The trust admitted failing to provide safe care and treatment, resulting in avoidable harm. In mitigation, it said the ward was not equipped for mental health patients but accepted Ellame due to a national shortage of child and adolescent mental health beds.
The prosecution, brought by the Care Quality Commission, argued the trust's missing patient policy lacked guidance on what to do when a vulnerable patient absconds. Ellame had a complex diagnosis and had tried to abscond multiple times before her death. Her mother, Nancy Ford-Dunn, said in a victim impact statement: 'Ellame deserved to be kept safe and get well and have a fulfilling life. Her future has been ripped from her and from us.'
The trust's counsel acknowledged the policy should have been updated to reflect the growing number of mental health patients on acute wards. The trust is also under police investigation for possible manslaughter over more than 90 deaths involving alleged negligence, and is one of 14 trusts subject to a national inquiry into maternity failures. Sentencing is set for 26 November, with a substantial fine expected.
