NHS trust facing charges

[IvanBarton]

Good afternoon I have a question and wondered If anybody knew the answer

An NHS trust has been charged with manslaughter and will appear in court in October.

My question is when a trust is facing charges, who sits in the dock? Who answers the questions and who goes to prison?


Thanks

Ivan

[des8]

The penalty for corporate manslaughter, which is to what you refer, is a fine (technically unlimited)
Obviously a corporate body cannot be jailed.

Managers of the trust and possibly senior health care professionals are those most possibly to appear in the dock

[PallasAthena]

Is this the case you are referring to?

Hospital charged with corporate manslaughter over death of mental health patient | The Independent

If so there are two defendants: the Trust itself (as a corporate entity) and a named individual (a ward manager).

The Trust is charged with Corporate Manslaughter. The penalty for that is a fine payable by the Trust. Individuals cannot be imprisoned for Corporate Manslaughter so no-one from the Trust will go to prison.

The individual in this case is charged with a different offence, Gross Negligence Manslaughter. The individual charged will be in the dock and could be sentenced to imprisonment.

What I find shocking about this case is that the patient died in 2015 and the Met Police have spent 5 years investigating it before the CPS decided to prosecute. 5 years! How can it possibly need 5 years to come to that decision? Delays like that can only make the grief of the family worse.

[IvanBarton]

Hi thanks

This is the case I was referencing.

In my experience the NHS can take a very long time delaying the process and coming forth with things when they're asked for them maybe this had something to do with the delays. This must be completely awful for the family. I commend them for the strength they must have had to get it this far. I bet it wasn't easy.

So would a representative from the trust be in the dock with the manager and obviously the trust will use public monies to defend itself l, will the ward manager be able to do the same or will he have to find his own solicitors.

[Getitdone]

The ward manager will be protected by NHS indemnity as long as they were directly employed by the NHS trust , ie not via an agency.

[PallasAthena]

The ward manager won't be protected against criminal fines nor for jail time.

[Getitdone]

I got the impression that the OP was specifically asking about financial protection which is why I wrote what I did .