North East NHS Trust being prosecuted by the CQC

Christie Harnett, 17, took her own life at the former West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough in June 2019 which at the time was run by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.

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Weeks later another young patient, 17-year-old Nadia Sharrif also took her own life.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) took enforcement action in August 2020 which meant the Trust would no longer be able to run CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) at the West Lane site.

Those services are now being run by the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation.

And the CQC has confirmed that it is bringing a prosecution against the trust following its investigations into care at the hospital.

Christie Harnett took her own life at the West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough

A CQC spokesman said: “We can confirm that the sad death of a patient in June 2019, at West Lane Hospital, run by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, has led to CQC bringing a prosecution against the trust.

"This is for breach of Regulation 12 (1) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, in that it failed to provide safe care and treatment exposing a patient to a significant risk of avoidable harm.

“In these circumstances, CQC look at all the evidence to determine if it meets the threshold for CQC to prosecute the provider. In this case it was concluded that it did meet the threshold and a prosecution was necessary and in the public interest.

“Our main priority is always the safety of people using health and social care services, and if we have concerns we will not hesitate to take action in line with our regulatory powers.

“We will report further as soon as we are able to do so.”

Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough, welcomed the news, saying: “Whilst this devastating development is not surprising, it is nevertheless a truly shocking indictment of the care, or rather the lack of appropriate care, received by these vulnerable young people. 

"It seems the concerns expressed by patients, families, and many members of experienced staff, before these tragic deaths occurred, are shared by the Care Quality Commission who have now decided that there is a case to answer and will prosecute. 

West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough

"Whilst we are yet to see the final report from the NHS Independent Investigators, from what we already knew, it was always likely that there would be criminal charges and the CQC have now clearly come to that conclusion. 

"This only serves to underscore the fundamental failures within the Trust at that time. 

"I have been saying for these past three years that there was a massive and fundamental failure of leadership, policy and process. 

"It will be up to the Trust how it pleads to the charges, but ultimately key individuals responsible for the decisions that had such tragic outcomes have to be held to account for such fundamental failures."

Nadia Sharrif

A Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said it had "fully cooperated" and continued to work closely with the CQC.

He added: "We have made significant changes both in personnel and how we treat those in our care.

"We promise Christie's family that we are working extremely hard to continue to improve as they have every right to expect."

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