Secret filming at Winterbourne View appears to show patients being physically and verbally abused
A pattern of abuse at a residential hospital uncovered by BBC Panorama has been condemned as “shocking” by the government.
It comes after Bristol police arrested and later bailed four people over the treatment of patients with learning difficulties at Winterbourne View.
Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said he was determined to strengthen safeguards for vulnerable adults.
NHS South West said it had been “appalled” by the issues raised.
The hospital’s owners, Castlebeck, have apologised and suspended 13 employees.
“There can be no place for such inhumanity in care services. ”
Paul Burstow Care services minister
During five weeks spent filming undercover, Panorama’s reporter captured footage of some of the hospital’s most vulnerable patients being repeatedly pinned down, slapped, dragged into showers while fully clothed, taunted and teased.
Mr Burstow said: “The abuse of people with learning disabilities at Winterbourne View uncovered by Panorama is shocking. There can be no place for such inhumanity in care services.
“There have been failures of inspection and adult protection which have exposed people to appalling abuse.
“I am determined to strengthen the system of safeguarding to protect vulnerable adults from abuse.”
Avon and Somerset police confirmed three men – aged 42, 30 and 25 – and a 24-year-old woman were arrested as part of their investigation into the hospital.
Mr Burstow said he had already ordered “a thorough examination of the roles of both” government regulato, the Care Quality Commission, and the local authorities.
Secret filming caught patients being dragged and slapped by support workers NHS South West said it was “appalled” by the issues raised surrounding the care home.
In a statement, it said: “We always expect safe, high-quality care from providers of services and the abuse of vulnerable patients is totally unacceptable.”
The programme decided to film secretly after being approached by a former senior nurse at the hospital who was deeply concerned about the behaviour of some of the support workers there.
“I have seen a lot over 35 years but this I have never seen anything like this. It is the worst I have seen,” former nurse Terry Bryan told the programme.
Mr Bryan reported his concerns to both management at Winterbourne View and to the CQC, but his complaint was not taken up.
In a statement, the CQC said that, following an internal review, it recognised that “there were indications of problems at this hospital which should have led to us taking action sooner”.
The CQC says it was alerted to the allegations on 12 May 2011 by Panorama reporter Paul Kenyon and carried out unannounced inspections on 17, 18 and 24 May.
Joe Casey said filming the abuse was the hardest thing he’d done
There is a currently a team from the local mental health primary care trust at Winterbourne View and the CQC is in touch with them and going in regularly for informal visits.
It said that, in response to the Panorama film, it had carried out three unannounced inspection visits of the hospital and taken steps to ensure it will not admit any new patients.
It had also written to Mr Burstow proposing the launch of a programme of risk-based and random unannounced inspections of a sample of the 150 hospitals providing care for people with learning disabilities, a move which the minister backed.
Castlebeck has launched an internal investigation into their whistle-blower procedures and are reviewing the records of all 580 patients in 56 facilities.
Winterbourne View can accommodate 24 patients and is taxpayer-funded, charging the state an average of £3,500 per patient per week.
NHS South West said: “Following initial checks, and a subsequent inspection by the CQC it has been agreed that patients should move to alternative facilities at the earliest opportunity.”
It said: “Primary care trusts in the South West which commissioned placements at the unit have carried out an urgent review of the processes used to commission and review privately provided services. The outcome will be fed into the wider multi-agency safeguarding review.”
Panorama’s Undercover Care: The Abuse Exposed was broadcast on BBC One on Tuesday 31 May at 2100 BST and is available to view in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.
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