Patients tell of brutal treatment
BY JANE HAMILTON Crime Reporter PATIENTS at a mental health unit claim they were pinned to the floor and bullied on wards where illegal drugs were rife.
They said staff at Carseview Centre in Dundee used face-down restraints violently and repeatedly over the past five years.
The claims, part of a BBC Scotland investigation, will be revealed in a documentary airing on BBC1 tonight.
With about 80 beds, Carseview is the biggest mental health unit in Tayside and treats hundreds of patients every year.
The programme claims the practice of face-down restrainting was used for prolonged periods and patients were mocked and shouted at.
The unit is the subject of an independent inquiry into mental health services, after families of suicide victims campaigned for change.
A fatal accident inquiry published last week into the death of Dale Thomson said there were “serious systemic failures in the care” he received at Carseview.
The BBC said they had spoken to 24 people who had been in the unit in the past five years and 16 said illegal drugs were available there.
Eleven patients said they had been unreasonably restrained face-down and a further seven said they had seen this happening to other patients.
Guidelines say face-down restraint, which can restrict a patient’s breathing, should last no longer than 10 minutes and should be used as a last resort.
There have been calls for it to be banned because of the risk to patients. There is also a danger that it could traumatise people who have been victims of violence and abuse.
Former youth worker Adele Douglas, from Forfar, was admitted to Carseview last year after experiencing depression and anorexia.
She said that while she was on 24-hour suicide watch, staff pinned her to the ground after an attempt to take her own life.
Adele claimed she shouted about being in pain and one member of staff reacted badly.
She said: “At this point I was going absolutely mad, then he’d lifted his hand and slapped me really hard on my thigh.
“When he slapped me, he said, ‘That’s enough of that.’
“The guy was really rough. It was like he was taking his frustration out on me.”
Adele, who has asthma, said she struggled to breathe and her knee was badly bruised by the way she was restrained. She said a nurse later told her she had been held down for 45 minutes to an hour. She said some of the staff were very professional but that she was pinned down in this way three times during her time in Carseview.
Marnie Stirling had two stays in Carseview while suffering from anxiety and depression.
She said she saw illegal drugs on the ward “all the time”. “It was rife,” she added. “Everyone was offered them. Cannabis was the easiest one to get.”
David Fong spent a month in the unit after experiencing psychosis in 2013.
He claimed staff used restraint violently and repeatedly in his time there.
David said: “The restraints in Carseview did feel like punishments. Also, the nurses wanted to maintain their authority above the patients.”
The programme will show testimony gathered by Professor Joy Duxbury of Manchester Metropolitan University.
The independent expert, who has not worked at Carseview, said patients should not end up with burn marks if restraint is carried out properly.
She said: “Rubbing of a face into a carpet is certainly not an acceptable approach.”
NHS Tayside said they were very concerned by the nature of the allegations.
They said they could not discuss “individual cases due to patient confidentiality” and would not be interviewed.
The health board said they hoped to include the allegations in an inquiry into mental health services in Tayside.
Chairman John Brown said: “We take any concerns raised with us very seriously and we want to be able to investigate people’s experiences in detail and take appropriate action.
“I would encourage patients to come forward and share their own stories with us. We will listen and we will act.”
Breaking Point is on BBC One at 8.30pm tonight.