THE mum of a teenager who killed herself at a private psychiatric hospital has said she is “devastated that lessons have not been learned”.

Amy El-Keria, 14, was found hanged in her room at Priory Hospital Ticehurst House in East Sussex in 2012.

The Care Quality Commission rated the children’s ward inadequate in December.

Tania El-Keria said the Priory was putting “profit before safety” but it said it has taken “significant steps”.

Amy had a complex mix of mental health issues including ADHD, compulsive obsessive disorder and Tourette’s.

The teenager, who had a history of suicide attempts, was an NHS-funded patient in The Priory’s care at the hospital’s children’s unit. The Priory Group was fined £300,000 last year over its failings in relation to Amy.

However, the inspection found the ward continued to have serious quality of care problems, many of which were flagged up at Amy’s inquest, including a lack of properly trained staff, unsafe practices and dangerous ligature points.

Ms El-Keria told the BBC: “It’s like losing Amy all over again.We fought for justice for Amy, and to stop this from happening to other people’s loved ones. It’s not stopping, it’s not changing, it’s like they get a slap on the hand and they’re still getting away with it.”

Despite two previous suicide attempts, Amy was found in her room with a ligature around her neck. She died as a result of the injuries. Staff had failed to suicide-proof her room or to correctly observe her.

And after seven years fighting for justice, Tania says she is “dying of a broken heart” after being diagnosed with heart failure. She previously said: “There are no words that can truly express the loss of Amy and the impact on me and my family.”

Ms El-Keria said she watched her daughter “struggle” throughout her life, and found it “hard to even comprehend what she was going through”.

Deborah Coles from the charity Inquest, which provides expertise on state related deaths and their investigation said it calls into question “whether the Priory Group should be stripped of their contract”.

A Priory spokesman said: “Despite significant investment, we continue to experience considerable staffing challenges on the wards due to well-documented national shortages particularly in relation to experienced nurses and psychiatrists. However... we have taken immediate and significant steps to address the concerns raised. We remain confident of restoring the service to its previous ‘good’ rating in line with the overall rating for the rest of the hospital.”