Care staff ‘deliberately hurt autistic patients’
Sixteen staff have been suspended at a hospital after undercover footage showed NHS patients with autism and learning difficulties being goaded and physically restrained by care workers. Six employees of the privately owned Whorlton Hall, Co Durham, are heard in the footage, filmed for a Panorama investigation, claiming to have deliberately hurt patients. Experts said the treatment shown amounted to “psychological torture”. Police have opened an investigation.
POLICE are investigating after undercover footage showed NHS patients with autism and learning difficulties being “tortured” in a scandal branded a second Winterbourne View.
Sixteen staff have been suspended at Whorlton Hall hospital in County Durham after being caught goading and swearing at patients, physically restraining them in a “dangerous” manner, as well as boasting about deliberately causing them pain.
Panorama footage shows care workers mimicking sex acts in front of a vulnerable patient using her teddy bears.
In one case, a severely autistic woman known to be scared of men was told by staff they were “pressing the man button”, at which point multiple male carers inundated her room.
A patient with learning difficulties was held on the ground for more than 10 minutes while staff made a show of removing possessions from his room.
Mental health campaigners said it “defies belief ” that such practices were taking place eight years after Panorama exposed systematic physical and psychological abuse at Winterbourne View near Bristol.
That scandal, which saw six people jailed, prompted a pledge by David Cameron to close similar facilities within two years. However, it is estimated that more than 2,300 adults with autism, learning or behavioural difficulties reside in institutions such as Whorlton Hall, which is owned by Cygnet Health Care but Nhs-funded.
The Care Quality Commission, which rated the hospital “good” in 2017, last night apologised “deeply” for not picking up on the abuse.
Olivia Davies, an undercover reporter, worked as a carer at the hospital between December and February, a job that paid £16,000 a year. Her footage showed one staff member referring to Whorlton Hall as a “house of mongs”.
A colleague calls a patient a “fat c***”, while another patient was told her family are “f ****** poison”.
The footage shows care workers threatening patients with violence. One threatens to “deck” a patient; in a separate incident a staff member says, “Get in there, punch me and see what happens. I’ll put you through the floor.”
Six care workers are heard in the footage claiming to have deliberately hurt patients, including one who described banging a patient’s head against the floor.
Glynis Murphy, a professor of clinical psychology and disability from the University of Kent, said the treatment amounted to “psychological torture”.
‘Get in there, punch me and see what happens. I’ll put you through the floor’
“It’s obviously a very deviant culture,” she said. “They are the absolute antithesis of what care workers should be.”
Another academic, Prof Andrew Mcdonnell, an expert in the safe restraint of people with autism, criticised the methods at Whorlton Hall.
Staff are required to write a report each time they use the technique. However, undercover footage showed a deputy manager encouraging staff to fabricate their accounts.
It also recorded a discussion about the forthcoming instillation of CCTV in the hospital, prompting a carer to say “the good old days will be gone shortly”.
A Cygnet spokesman said: “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the allegations... We take these allegations extremely seriously. We have suspended all the members of staff involved... informed all relevant authorities, including the police, who have now instigated an inquiry and we are cooperating fully.”
Mark Rowland, the chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: “Eight years after Panorama uncovered systemic abuse of people with learning disabilities at Winterbourne View, it defies belief that this is still happening. After Winterbourne View, the government promised to reduce the number of people with learning disabilities who are kept in institutions for long periods. Yet more than 2,000 people are still in this hellish situation.”
The Department for Health said: “We are working to ensure more people return home from hospital as soon as their treatment has finished and significant investment in community support has already led to a 22 per cent reduction in mental health inpatient numbers since 2015.”
‘It’s obviously a very deviant culture. They are the absolute antithesis of what care workers should be’