The Winterbourne View hospital inquiry occurred at Winterbourne View, a private hospital at

Hambrook Hambrook is a village in the civil parish of Winterbourne, in the South Gloucestershire district, in Gloucestershire, England, situated on the north-eastern outskirts of the city of Bristol. It lies between the larger communities of Winterbour ...

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Kingswood, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern p ...

, England, owned and operated by Castlebeck. A ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek language, Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any Obtuse angle, wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography (panoramic photography), film, seismic image ...

'' investigation, broadcast on television in 2011, exposed the physical and

psychological abuse Psychological abuse, often known as emotional abuse or mental abuse, is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another person to a behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including Anxiety disorder, anxiety, c ...

suffered by people with

learning disabilities Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficulty ...

and

challenging behaviour Challenging behaviour, also known as behaviours which challenge, is defined as "culturally abnormal behaviour(s) of such intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviou ...

at the hospital. Castlebeck was owned by Lydian Capital Partners, an investment firm based in Geneva and backed by a consortium including three Irish billionaires: Denis Brosnan,

Dermot Desmond Dermot Desmond (born 14 August 1950) is an Irish businessman and financier. He is estimated to be worth €2.04 billion and is ranked by the '' Sunday Independent'' as the ninth-richest person in Ireland. Early life and education Desmond was ...

and J.P. McManus. Local social services and the English national regulator (

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care providers in England. It ...

) had received various warnings but the mistreatment continued. One senior nurse, Terry Bryan, reported his concerns to the management at Winterbourne View and to CQC, but his complaint was not taken up. The publicly funded hospital was shut down as a result of the abuse that took place. Another similar Castlebeck unit in Bristol was closed in August 2011 "for operational reasons" and a third, Arden Vale (near Coventry) was closed by agreement with the Care Quality Commission in August 2011.

Abuse

The undercover footage showed staff repeatedly assaulting and harshly restraining patients under chairs. Staff gave one patient cold showers as a punishment, left her outside in near freezing temperatures, and later poured mouthwash into her eyes. They pulled patients' hair and forced medication into their mouths. Victims were shown screaming and shaking; one patient was seen trying to jump out of a second-floor window to escape the torment, and was mocked by staff members afterwards. Another patient was repeatedly poked in the eyes. A clinical psychologist who reviewed the footage described the abuse as "torture".

Reaction

On 21 June 2011, 86 people and organisations wrote to the Prime Minister,

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

, about the revelations: "We are aware of the various actions currently being taken within and outside government – such as the DH review and CQC internal inquiry. We hope to make submissions to those both individually and collectively. However, on their own these will not be enough and a clear programme is needed to achieve change." Cameron responded by saying he was "appalled" at the "catalogue of abuses" uncovered by the BBC TV series ''

''. In June 2011 the Association of Supported Living issued a press statement, which was followed up in writing to every member of parliament in the United Kingdom, calling for community based supported living services to replace institutional services for people with learning disabilities. The ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' said, "It is impossible to read the details of what went on at Winterbourne View, a care home for the severely disabled in Gloucestershire, without feeling repelled. In the wake of an exposé from the BBC's Panorama, 11 members of staff were convicted of almost 40 charges of neglect and ill treatment of those in their care."

Systemic failings

The national regulator, the CQC did a nationwide check on facilities owned by the same company, Castlebeck Care, and as a result three more institutions were closed. The CQC reported a "systemic failure to protect people or to investigate allegations of abuse" and said that Castlebeck Care had "misled" the health watchdog. The CQC also came under criticism for failing to respond to early warnings of abuse at the care home. It initially blamed Winterbourne managers who, the CQC said, "effectively misled us by not keeping us informed about incidents". However, it later emerged that managers had officially alerted the CQC to numerous allegations of staff abusing patients, dating back to February 2008, which were also reported to the police, but did not lead to any convictions.

Investigations

The CQC also inspected 132 similar institutions and a Serious Case Review was commissioned – some of the roughly ten local and national enquiries were carried out to examine what went wrong, including one by NHS Southwest which was one of the first to be published and list many of the others. The head of the Care Quality Commission resigned ahead of a critical government report, a report in which Winterbourne View was cited. Mencap published a report warning that similar abuse could be going on elsewhere, and calling for the closure of all large institutions far from patients' families.

Convictions

Eleven people pleaded guilty to criminal offences of

neglect In the context of caregiving, neglect is a form of abuse where the perpetrator, who is responsible for caring for someone who is unable to care for themselves, fails to do so. It can be a result of carelessness, indifference, or unwillingness and ...

abuse Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...

as a result of evidence from Undercover Care, and six of them were jailed. Immediately after the eleventh person pleaded guilty, the Serious Case Review was published, revealing hundreds of previous incidents at the hospital, and warnings that were missed.

Media

The BBC programme ''Panorama'' produced an investigation documentary depicting the violations at Winterbourne View Hospital titled "Undercover Care: The Abuse Exposed".

References

External links

Report
to South Gloucestershire Council on Winterbourne View Hospital, 2012