CLOSE TO BREAKING
Bosses accused of failing to fix secure unit door after patient burst through it
Managers at one of Scotland’s most secure psychiatric hospitals have been accused of failing to fix its main door months after a dangerous patient escaped by bursting through it.
Scott MacKay, who was locked up after a violent attack on an elderly woman, kicked his way out the Rowanbank Clinic before being caught in a residential street by more than a dozen police and nursing staff.
Management ordered a security review after the unprecedented break-out.
Concerns over a possible repeat have been raised after it emerged doors have been given temporary fixes. Whistleblowers also claimed staff levels are unsafe at the Rowanbank Clinic, in the grounds of Stobhill hospital in Glasgow’s Springburn.
One source said: “They have just put up a plain wooden door at the main entrance and the doors which the patient broke through have all had patch-up repairs.
“They have not changed or improved the security of the doors.
“People are potentially at risk from very dangerous patients.” There were a dozen patients in the ward when MacKay, who is about 6ft 5in tall and heavily built, escaped in August.
He kicked in the door from his ward and the outer door at the clinic which has security just one level below that of the State Hospital at Carstairs.
MacKay, who seriously injured an elderly woman at her house in the Greenock area in a random attack, was apprehended near Springburn Park and has since been transferred to Carstairs.
Labour MP Paul Sweeney, whose constituency covers the clinic, said: “An individual must be placed at a site where appropriate security is in place.
“There is also a question over security at the Rowanbank going forward if an individual has been able to defeat it relatively easily.”
The NHS said: “Rowanbank Clinic remains safe and secure for both patients and staff with appropriate security measures in place. A review was carried out into the incident which concluded that the correct systems and procedures were in place.
“The unit is staffed to support the clinical activity with a minimum of three staff on the ward at any given time.”