BBC Panorama Whorlton Hall

Sad thing is, how long before we hear of the next incidents like these ?

Echoed my very thoughts , R.

Just how many don’t we get to hear about ?

Good on all whistle blowers who should receive better support and needs be compensation. Paid/fines by companies who DO NOT check there staff working practices etc.

Shame on corrupt staff and management personnel higher sentencing.

Better trained CQC employees. Hold you heads in shame!!!

I have worked in various care roles over a number of years. And have never come across such behaviours.

I have worked for companies who regularly carryout checks and staff.

I think it’s the staff who needed to be sectioned and assessed not the poor client group.

I do hope that none of these inhumane individuals every get work within the care sector.

Lets hope their friends and families are well ashamed of them.

Whorlton Hall : Ten arrested over abuse allegations.

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Ten workers have been arrested over the alleged abuse of patients with learning difficulties at a hospital.

Seven men and three women were arrested at addresses in Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Darlington and Stockton.

Undercover filming by BBC Panorama at Whorlton Hall in County Durham appeared to show patients being mocked, intimidated and restrained.

The site had at least 100 visits by official agencies in the year before the abuse was discovered.

Those arrested were being questioned about offences relating to abuse and neglect at the privately-run NHS-funded unit, Durham Police said.

Care minister Caroline Dinenage told the House of Commons she was “deeply sorry that this has happened”.



No doubt . more news will follow … as and when.

I think there should be some sort of public enquiry into the way the place was inspected and monitored, but most of all how complaints were dealt with.

Our LA told the LA that I was a “Serial Complainer”, because they couldn’t shut me up. I was complaining about a serious error a new social worker had made, wrongly writing that my son came home “every weekend” After a year of getting nowhere, I went to Winchester to show the Complaints Officer what I was talking about, various actions were agreed, that never happened. A case conference was arranged, didn’t happen because no one had done the work required!!

I don’t like being a complainer, but I don’t like injustice either. My son can’t speak up for himself, so then I speak for him. Even when he specifically asks me to say… because he’s told me, not his advocate, even this is ignored. He only sees his advocate before a meeting and sadly, the advocate can’t understand a lot of what M says. Too often, the advocate gets the wrong end of the stick! There is definitely a plan to squeeze me out at the moment, however when the proverbial hits the fan, when there is no care, they suddenly remember me again!!!

do you think if they paid a better hourly rate for carers of people with learning disabilities, they would get a better standard of carers.
its debatable I know, but would be interested to hear what people think.
personally my daughters carers get 4p an hour more than minimum wage, and that is with CHC funding. I think its disgusting, but no amount of me moaning about it to care provider and CCG has made any difference.

Do you think if they paid a better hourly rate for carers of people with learning disabilities, they would get a
better standard of carers. ?

Possibly … £ 8 or £ 80 per hour … no guarantee that said carer is immune from " Improper " behavour in certain circumstances ?

The very essence of a successful " Enterprise " is a team working together … owners / managers / workers.

In many lower paid areas … Worksop a prime example … may well be the only work many can get when compared with
zero hour contract type vacancies … the bane of Worksop to say the very least.

( Even then , factor in the transport element … inadequate / non existence public transport … no car. )

Job satisfaction does not come into it … only the weekly / monthly salary matters to far too many.

When it comes to the social care sector , the workers on the ground floor are leaving in droves … first reported back in
August last year :

https://www.carersuk.org/forum/support-and-advice/all-about-caring/careworker-shortgage-family-carers-to-the-rescue-whilst-balancing-working-with-caring-34158?hilit=care%20worker%20shortage

And , unlike us , they are free to chose to remain in that sector or move onto a new one.

Money has little to do with it. There are millions of volunteers in this country. Who provide care for free and willingly.

The individuals at Whorlton Hall were not short of pack animals. Loads of potentially dangerous sheep.

Dedicated staff are dedicated. Grumpy miserable woe is me staff will always be grumpy miserable woe is me staff. Regardless of the salary. Not that I believe they are on an adequate salary.
Cruel wicked staff will always be imho.
More checks are needed on the type of person being employed. Unfortunately I have no idea how that can be implemented. Whistle blowers don’t feel safe. Disclosure and Barring certificates that are clear, are only in indication that a person is not a threat. Not absolute proof.
Scary.

If this sort of abuse is happening in a regulated situation, how much MORE abuse goes on in Supported Living on a 1:1 basis?

In the past, people working with my son in Supported Living have stolen things from his flat, and misappropriated money. £2,500 in 10 months.
What did the council do, when auditors appointed by the LA discovered this? Absolutely nothing, for months.
Then the agency started complaining that I hadn’t paid them - as instructed by the LA appointed auditor.
Now there is a black mark on my file, saying that when I handled M’s Direct Payments I didn’t do so properly!!!
I especially resent that, because I kept his books scrupulously, correct to the penny. They never EVER knew, because they never ever inspected my records!!!

Supported Living can make people wide open to abuse. It is NOT the answer to everything.

**Whorlton Hall : Former inspector says warnings were ignore.

A former inspector at the Care Quality Commission says a 2015 report into Whorlton Hall hospital which presented " Warning bells " went unpublished.**



Barry Stanley-Wilkinson says he wrote the report four years before BBC Panorama revealed the alleged abuse of patients with learning disabilities and autism.

The CQC said the draft report raised no concerns about abusive practices.

The claims come after 10 workers at the specialist hospital were arrested.

Seven men and three women were arrested last week at addresses in Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Darlington and Stockton over the alleged abuse of patients.

An undercover BBC Panorama investigation into the specialist hospital in County Durham - a 17-bed unit for adults with learning difficulties and autism - appeared to show patients being mocked, intimidated and restrained.

Cygnet, the firm that runs the 17-bed hospital unit for adults with learning difficulties and autism, said it was “shocked and deeply saddened” by the allegations.

The company only took over the running of the centre at the turn of the year and said it was “co-operating fully” with the police investigation.

Poor culture

The site had at least 100 visits by official agencies in the year before the alleged abuse was discovered.

Mr Stanley-Wilkinson says he noticed a “very poor culture” was evident when he led the 2015 inspection.

He told the BBC that he had raised concerns over the “very poor culture” in a report he wrote - four years prior to the BBC investigation.

He said: "I strongly believe that anybody that can understand organisational culture reading that report would agree that there was definitely warning bells there.

“I was extremely upset. This should have been listened to back in 2015 and I said quite openly, when I left the organisation, that I felt it had neglected its promise to people with learning disabilities.”

He said it was the only report he wrote in nearly a decade of working at the CQC which wasn’t published.

In a statement, the CQC said the report went through a “rigorous peer review process”.

It said the draft report “did not raise any concerns about abusive practice”.

The CQC said a later inspection rated the hospital as “good overall”.

In a statement it said: "We are in the process of commissioning a review into what we could have done differently or better in our regulation of Whorlton Hall and these allegations will be fully investigated as part of this.

“We will update on the progress and findings of this review in our Public Board meetings.”

CQC have Public Board meetings??? Well \I’ve never heard of them before, has anyone else???

Board meetings - Care Quality Commission


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Our board meets regularly to discuss our work.

We are committed to openness and transparency. > The board conducts as much of its business as possible in a session that the public are welcome to attend and observe. To protect confidentiality some business is discussed in a private session.
The agenda and meeting papers are available on this page a few days before each meeting.

You can also watch recordings of the meetings on this website.

No BB I haven’t heard of public board meetings!!

The next one is in Bristol, otherwise Buckingham Palace Road.
Only one member of the public mentioned as having written a letter, but couldn’t attend, so written reply sent.

I’m tempted to suggest a mass invasion at the next meeting, but wouldn’t be able to attend easily myself, and that probably applies to most of the families concerned. Divide and Conquer?

Time to unfurl those trusty old Greenham Common banners , ladies ?

Polish up those old welly boots ?

( Two female members of my local Astronomy Society were there … both now sadly have departed this existence. )

Perhaps a few old Miners’ ones to add to the spectacle … plenty available on my manor.

( Common link … both went far beyond the initial issue ! )

A sense of being part of something that transcended traditional values … and politics ?

Even if , at the time , you had no idea of just why you were there ?

Fitting heirlooms to pass down the generations.

**The Guardian view on the abuse of learning-disabled people : duties of care.

Undercover filming and a trio of reports show that the lessons of the Winterbourne View scandal have not yet been learned.** >


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The publication in quick succession of three reports, combined with last week’s BBC Panorama programme showing patients at Whorlton Hall hospital being abused by staff, have shed much-needed light on the mistreatment of learning-disabled people. Eight years after a reporter went undercover at a similar hospital, Winterbourne View, the scenes appearing to show vulnerable adults being bullied and threatened were all the more appalling for being familiar.

The emergence over the weekend of a whistleblower, former Care Quality Commission inspector Barry Stanley-Wilkinson, made the systemic nature of this failure even clearer. Mr Stanley-Wilkinson says he wrote a critical report of Whorlton Hall that was never published. The CQC says that report did not allege abuse. But it has apologised for failing to spot problems at Whorlton Hall, which it recently rated “good”.

The hospital, which was recently taken over by the US healthcare company Cygnet, now stands empty. Ten staff have been arrested and the criminal justice process must run its course. But any grim satisfaction in rooting out bad apples should be short-lived. What has been revealed over the past 10 days, in reports by children’s commissioner Anne Longfield, the CQC and academic researchers as well as by the BBC, goes beyond the actions of a callous few.

The underlying problem has three main aspects. The first is discrimination against learning-disabled and autistic people. Last week’s review of mortality rates, commissioned by the NHS, showed that women and men with learning disabilities die 27 and 23 years earlier than the general population, with researchers pointing to “bias in treatment” as an explanation.

Such bias of course intersects with other prejudices – as the variation in death rates between women and men suggests. Panorama provided further evidence of this, with shocking footage of male carers ganging up on a female patient known to be afraid of men, a form of misogynist bullying they described as “pressing the man button”.

The second aspect is the standard and status of work in the care sector. This question is far bigger than Whorlton Hall. The fact is that care – whether of autistic or disabled people, dementia sufferers or looked-after children – is undervalued. This does not excuse unkind or illegal behaviour. It does mean that many of the people employed in this area are underqualified, poorly motivated and unsuited to what must be recognised as demanding work.

The third aspect is structural and concerns commissioning and regulation. The squeeze on local authority budgets combined with the government’s failure to propose, let alone deliver, a policy on social care, has created unhealthy conditions. The commissioners who purchase care packages must be accountable. So must the CQC. But politicians too must take responsibility for the failure to follow through on commitments made following previous scandals. Health secretary Matt Hancock’s refusal to be interviewed about Whorlton Hall was a serious mistake.

Since 2011, the number of adults living in specialist hospitals has fallen from 3,400 to 2,300. But steep rises in the use of physical restraint, combined with warnings from Anne Longfield and others about “values and culture”, are alarming. If the government has rejected proposals for an independent commissioner for learning-disabled people, ministers must explain why – and what they plan to do instead.

Letters to the Guardian

Abuse in care sector is already well documented
Sara Ryan, Deborah Coles and Mark Neary say systemic change is needed to protect vulnerable people in institutions
Letters
Mon 3 Jun 2019 17.31 BST

We applaud your editorial (31 May) focusing on the abuse of learning-disabled people. We query the suggestion that the publication of three reports and the recent BBC Panorama documentary “shed much-needed light” on this mistreatment. We are at a loss as to how much more light can be shone on well-documented and sustained human rights abuses, deaths, dangerous restraint and practices that are endemic in institutions and enabled by the clearly deficient and failing processes of investigation, oversight and external scrutiny.


It is time to set aside the misted goggles that allow politicians, policymakers, regulators, commissioners and providers to somehow not see, hear or even reflect on the dehumanising and degrading treatment meted out to fellow citizens. This is about human rights and the duty to respect and protect rights, particularly of people incarcerated behind the closed walls of our institutions.
The unconscionable lack of political will and leadership to ensure action and systemic change can no longer be tolerated. This is about holding to account each and every one of us, particularly those we entrust to either directly look after people in these settings or to oversee such provision.

Dr Sara Ryan University of Oxford
Deborah Coles Director, Inquest
Mark Neary #Rightfulllives


• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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They don’t come much better than that one.

In case it’s of any interest to you, Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK who was appointed as co-chair of the Care Support Alliance co-wrote this blog about what we should expect from our next Prime Minister in response to the Panorama investigation last week.

You can read the blog here: http://careandsupportalliance.com/blog/?utm_source=Carers%20UK&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10604909_03%2F06%2F19%20Staff%20note&dm_i=74C,6BAST,U4Z7I8,OXVSI,1

Another voice to add to those with similar views over the past 15 years or so.

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We see families buckling under the strain of caring, with support whittled away as services close due to budget cuts. And we are prompted to consider what it must be like working in this environment – forced to reconcile a commitment to acting in people’s best interests with options that are patently inadequate but all the council has the money to pay for. >

2004 … the very first wave of LA cutbacks.
Where were all those voices and concerns then ???

Monies … not the sole issue.

The financing and management of social care … under one roof within the NHS and funded through general taxation.

( Like two twin sisters … separated shortly after birth … finally being reunited ??? )

( A cancer patient with dementia … two separated systems to handle the one patient ??? )

Logic / common sense … often missing from the thinking of academics and suits ???

Having been rejected back in 2009 … is there a common census now re-emerging ?

As for the BBC expose … nothing on the roll of the CQC and other " Three Monkies " watchdogs out there … blind / death / dumb.