The Care Quality Commission has confirmed it is prosecuting a North East NHS Trust over three deaths and what it alleges was "avoidable harm".
The Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust - which runs mental health services in County Durham and Teesside - is due to appear before Teesside Magistrates' Court on May 17 this year. The CQC has brought a prosecution over alleged breaches of the Health and Social Care Act in relation to three deaths.
The prosecution relates to regulation 12 of the Act - which exists to "prevent people from receiving unsafe care and treatment and prevent avoidable harm or risk of harm". It is a criminal offence to breach the Act if "a failure to meet the regulation results in avoidable harm to a person using the service or if a person using the service is exposed to significant risk of harm".
