As a damning report lays bare the catalogue of abuse at a care home exposed in a TV investigation, campaigners say a similar scandal could happen again unless the government acts.
The owners of Winterbourne View, health regulators, local health services and police were all criticised for failing to act on increasing warning signs of institutional abuse by staff at the care home.
The 150-page report by independent expert Margaret Flynn details hundreds of incidents of restraint and dozens of assaults on patients at the private hospital at Hambrook, South Gloucestershire.
Winterbourne View was exposed by BBC1’s Panorama last year when an undercover reporter recorded secret footage of patients being abused by carers.
The video appeared to show vulnerable residents being pinned down, slapped, doused in water and taunted.
The footage of the terrible treatment of residents caused a national scandal.
Since the allegations were first broadcast, the home’s owner, Castlebeck, has closed Winterbourne View and two other residential homes following concerns raised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
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Yesterday Michael Ezenagu, 29, became the eleventh member of staff at Winterbourne View to admit offences relating to the ill-treatment of patients. They will all be sentenced at Bristol crown court at a later date.
Today’s report was published as campaigners warned that another care home scandal like Winterbourne View could happen again unless the government takes action.
Mencap and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation warned that moving people hundreds of miles away from their families increased the risk of abuse taking place.
The two charities said a report they had compiled, Out of Sight, detailed a series of serious cases of abuse and neglect of people with a learning disability in institutional care.
They said they had received 260 reports from families concerning abuse and neglect in institutional care since the Winterbourne View scandal was exposed.
Peter Murphy, chairman of the South Gloucestershire Safeguarding Adults Board, said: “On behalf of the organisations that make up South Gloucestershire’s Safeguarding Adults Board – including the council, the NHS, Avon and Somerset Police and the Care Quality Commission – I would like to take the opportunity today to convey our deep regret for the events that took place at Winterbourne View private hospital.
“In particular, I would like to express our regret to the hospital’s patients and to their families, friends and carers.
“Winterbourne View hospital should have been a safe place for them to be treated with care and compassion.
“But the hospital’s owners, Castlebeck Care Ltd, failed to provide that care.
“Instead it left vulnerable adults in the hands of poorly trained and poorly supervised staff, who dealt out torment and abuse to those entrusted to their care.
“Many of those staff have now been subject to criminal proceedings and this should send out a clear and powerful message – that where employees engage in this kind of criminal behaviour they will be held to account.”