Panorama has gone undercover inside a hospital for vulnerable adults and revealed patients being mocked, taunted and intimidated by abusive staff. In shocking footage, reporter Olivia Davies films patients with autism and learning difficulties being deliberately provoked by staff who then physically restrain them. The Panorama investigation comes eight years after the programme exposed the scandal of abuse at Winterbourne View, another specialist hospital. Then, the Government promised to reform care for the most vulnerable. Now they stand accused of failing to keep that promise by families, campaigners and whistleblowers.
Glynis Murphy, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Disability at the Tizard Centre, was asked to comment as an expert in this field stating that much of what Panorama had found “was absolute antithesis” of good care, “it is obviously a very deviant culture“.
The CQC gave Whorlton Hall, where the abuse took place, a good rating after it inspected in 2017. It said that since then it had warned the hospital about staff training, long hours and the excessive use of agency staff. Dr Paul Lelliott, Chief Inspector of hospitals at the CQC commented “on this occasion it is quite clear that we did not pick up the abuse that was happening at Whorlton Hall. All I can do is apologise to the people concerned.”
Assurances we given regarding the mistreatment of patients by the Government in 2012, along with a commitment to closing specialist hospitals saying that care should be provided in the community. However Panorama has found that “restrictive practices” have become more common with the use of seclusion and restraint nearly doubling over the past two years (figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Panorama).
Jonathan Beebee, of the Royal College of Nursing, said Panorama had shined a light on a “dark corner” of the sector.