Priory Group

The Priory Group is a provider of mental health care facilities in the United Kingdom. The group operates at more than 250 sites with 7,000 beds. Its flagship hospital is the Priory Hospital, Roehampton, which is best known for treating celebrities particularly for drug addiction. The Priory Group also manages schools, some for students with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism.

The Group was acquired by Westminster Health Care plc in 1999. Chai Patel became Chief Executive. On 5 March 2007 Dr Patel and his management team resigned.

The Chief Executive Officer is Tom Riall who joined the Priory in April 2013. He was named as the most influential leader in the independent healthcare sector at the HealthInvestor Power Fifty 2016 after the acquisition by Acadia.

In 2002, the group was sold to Doughty Hanson & Co for £289 million. The company was sold again in July 2005 for £875 million to ABN Amro (later taken over by Royal Bank of Scotland Group), netting the five company directors over £50 million. Royal Bank of Scotland Group sold Priory to Advent International in 2011.

In October 2014 Riall announced that the group was planning a significant expansion into the mental health community services market and would bid in partnership with “incumbent” NHS providers, an approach that would allow them to come up with new models of care. He expected more services to be put out to tender by Clinical commissioning groups. Priory could contribute their "considerable commercial bidding expertise”. Riall wants Priory to be the “overflow provider of choice” for the NHS.

Acadia Healthcare bought the business for £1.3 billion in January 2016.