The parents of a 16-year-old girl who killed herself after absconding from a hospital ward have said the system failed their daughter, after the NHS trust involved was fined £200,000 for health and safety offences. Ellame Ford-Dunn, who had severe mental health problems, 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, as she had been instructed not to leave the ward if a patient absconded. The trust 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.
District Judge Tessa Szagun fined the trust £200,000 plus costs, stating: 'Any organisation entrusted with the care of amongst the most vulnerable in society … should be alert to and proactive to changes in advice and guidance.' Ellame's father, Ken Ford-Dunn, said: 'There 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.'
The family is pursuing a separate damages claim against the trust. Ellame's mother, Nancy Ford-Dunn, said: 'We do not want to say more at this stage as we do not want to risk jeopardising the ongoing legal proceedings.' Jodie Anderson, a senior caseworker at the charity Inquest, said: 'We need urgent action to ensure further failures and harms by mental health services are prevented.'
Maggie Davies, chief nurse at UHSussex, said: 'Since Ellame's death, we have made significant improvements to our policies, training, and ward environments to prevent anything like this happening again.' An inquest into Ellame's death was opened last year and adjourned pending the outcome of the prosecution.
