Abuse of patients 'dark chapter' in history of care at hospital

The head of the Belfast Health Trust has expressed "deep shame" over the abuse of patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital in County Antrim.

Giving evidence to Stormont's health committee, Jennifer Welsh said the scandal had been a "dark chapter" in the history of caring for vulnerable adults in Northern Ireland.

A public inquiry into abuse at the facility for people with mental health conditions and learning disabilities found some patients suffered physical abuse, including black eyes, broken bones, bruising and excessive restraint.

Welsh said the impact of the inquiry report was "illuminating a rot that permeated deep into a culture and a way of life at Muckamore that was systemic".

She said it was "shameful" there had been so many inquiries into the health sector in Northern Ireland.

Senior board members of the Belfast Trust and officials from the Department of Health are being questioned by MLAs at the committee.

The report into what happened inside the hospital found "deviance" was so normalised that working below par became acceptable.

The report, published in June, also made it clear that abuse did not involve every patient nor every member of staff, nor a majority of the staff.

But many patients had their lives made "miserable" by systematic bullying by certain members of staff whose job it was to look after them.

The report made a series of recommendations aimed at protecting vulnerable adults in care.

These include changes to care plans for those with a learning disability, considering CCTV in some areas of care settings and for adult safeguarding to become a statutory duty, alongside the introduction of a legal Duty of Candour.

Welsh told the health committee on Tuesday that she wanted to "restate my profound and unreserved apology to the people who lived at Muckamore Abbey Hospital and who experienced abuse, neglect and at times cruelty".

"I'm deeply sorry for everything that they suffered and for the lasting impact that such appalling behaviour will have left on them."

She said as current chief executive, she and trust chair Stuart Elborn, "take full responsibility for the wrongs that were committed".

"The abuse and, at times, the neglect is shocking in itself, but that it happened at the hands of caregivers is a dark chapter in the history of caring for people with learning disabilities and autism on these islands."

However, committee chair Philip McGuigan questioned Welsh about the trust's "adversarial" approach to the public inquiry team and said it was "baffling" that it had not engaged with the inquiry panel since the publication of the report.

She said she accepted the trust had been adversarial and was happy to engage with the inquiry panel, chaired by the lawyer Tom Kark.

The chief executive said the adversarial nature of some communications should not take away from the spirit of the inquiry.

"There is no doubt about the abuse and neglect and the absolutely shameful things that happened at Muckamore that should never have happened - we're absolutely clear on that.

"I'm really disappointed that that adversarial approach is detracting from that - is detracting from the experience that families actually had, the experience that their loved ones had in Muckamore."

She added: "I hope we will never be in a position again that we have a public inquiry. I think it is shameful that Northern Ireland has had so many public inquiries across health and social care services."