Whorlton Hall abuse

[cansu]

I have looked on many sections and cannot find any threads on this. Surely I can't be the only person to be heartbroken at watching the violence and abuse of vulnerable people with autism and disabilities? Where is the outrage from others on here? I can't even find anything on Matt Hancock's twitter or website with a response to what is a terrible verdict on the NHS commissioners, clinicians, management and the regulator.

As the mother and 24/7 carer of a severely disabled DS, this is my worst nightmare. This sort of torture and neglect happening to him if I am ever unable to continue caring for him is my greatest fear. It is always at the back of my mind and sometimes, like now, at the forefront. His disability includes severe autism. He is incredibly vulnerable. Being treated like these people were treated - and no doubt others are still being treated right at this very minute somewhere - would confuse, terrify and destroy him. Some other parents in my situation will understand what I mean when I say I will do anything to prevent him being in such a situation in the future.

I don't usually comment on threads related to disability in AIBU because sadly they are rarely safe places to be because of trolls and disablist abuse.

Since having my son I have come to see very clearly that children and adults with Severe Learning Disablities are the poor relations in society. Ultimately that is why this sort of abuse shown in Panarama happens and is allowed to happen, not just behind the closed doors of a hospital, but in our schools, our streets, and on social media.

I have just started watching it and i am both heartbroken and angry at the same time .I work with people with autism and learning difficulties for over 20yrs and i wouldn't do anything else .I have been in situation's where i have been punched etc but that comes with the job i still wouldn't change it .This is pure evil abuse how they can sleep at night is beyond me .They are just goading the residents and praying on their anxiety. It's no good suspending someone, put them in jail. These are our most vulnerable members of society and they deserve to be protected from scum like this .Over the years i have met some amazing families and services users .To watch the parents in tears on the programme is just too much .

I could just about read the news article on it and couldn’t bring myself to watch it. Breaks my heart thinking about it.

What I don’t understand, if I’ve read this correctly, is the undercover care worker worked there for 2 months secretly filming the abuse. Why was it allowed to be recorded for 2 months? Surely one day is enough evidence?

Horrified to watch this last night, oh siad he wanted to be in a room with the men bet they wouldn't take advantage of him like he did with other people's children! Scum

Why was it allowed to be recorded for 2 months? Surely one day is enough evidence?

I think because if it was one day or even one week it would be much easier for those in charge to brush it off as a bad shift or a couple of bad apples.

Whereas with 2 months worth of footage it shows that it's the way the place is run therefore there can't be any "the boss was on holiday" "it was just one shift" and also removes the defence of "it was a one off, I lost my temper". It shows the patterns as well.

Each and everyone one of those staff was filmed on multiple occasions so it will presumably make life easier for the police and the authorities to deal with them.

In our society people with disabilities are treated as the lowest of the low, subhuman, and largely invisible. Those attitudes are entrenched throughout all areas and classes. As the sibling to two people with disabilities I have seen those attitudes from all sectors or society, and from people and professionals known and not known to my siblings.

Social care is woefully underfunded and underresourced, and has been for a long time now. The decentralisation and privatisation of social care has meant commissioners do not have a proper handle on the quality of services, and care provider staff are paid minimum wage. Management training and condition specific training is nonexistent. My brother lived in a supported living placement in an area of relatively high employment. When recruiting for care staff, the vast majority who applied had been in prison. A few of the staff were nice people but the majority clearly hated their jobs and the people they were supporting. They also hated the families of the people they were supporting. My brother died there amid an environment of neglect and indifference.

My only consolation is that those people cannot treat him with such contempt or hurt him any more.

If I had a child with disabilities I would start planning for their future now and try to arrange things so my child would never have to enter the adult care system

Saw something on my fb newsfeed, i watched it without the sound, even that i found awful to watch. I hope every one of those fuckers get everything they deserve for they did to those poor people.
How the reporter was able to stick it for so long il never know.

I havent watched the programme though, I don't think I could bear it

Why was it allowed to be recorded for 2 months? Surely one day is enough evidence?

Because now there is a catalogue of abuse, and there's evidence that management and nurses are not just aware, but involved and instigators.

Until care facilities are non profit organisations, this will continue, because right from the top the whole thing is corrupt.
I'm disgusted but not shocked that this isn't a national scandal. As usual, the staff involved will be punished (rightly so) but the root causes won't be addressed - profit driven companies, lack of training, lack of equipment and supplies, lack of protection for those who do try and do the right thing. It's an utter disgrace.

And a Tory govt selling off the nhs to private equity companies and then turning a blind eye to the inevitable abuses that come about from cost cutting to maximise profits.

I have whistle blown about the staff in a private care home. Run entirely for profit. Owner flies in by helicopter a couple of times a year and expects to be treated like royalty. In the meantime he pays the staff a pittance, does not care who he employs (the cheaper the better) and has a beautiful menu displayed that bears no resemblance to what the patients are actually fed.
I witnessed awful handling techniques, patients with pressure sores, and staff who refused to toilet a lady because they were going for their break. When they came back she had soiled herself and they called her a filthy bitch.
This is several years ago. I reported to the CQC and they renewed its 'good' rating a few months later despite the complaint.

My own mum lives with our family. No way would I let her near a care home now.

David Cameron swore never again.

David Cameron shouldn't have made promises he couldn't keep. Unless the punishment fits the crime eg at least a 25 year sentence and none of this 2 years suspended for 5 nonsense or the famous 200 hours unpaid work. That goes for anyone who "missed" the abuse, too.
it's never going to stop because they literally get away with it.

Grumpymug you are completely right. It takes skill and empathy and the correct appropriate training to work as a support worker .You need to know when to step back , observe from a safe distance or when you can help by just being calm and reassuring .When it is done by sadist bullies who find out what a persons fears are then you have what is happening. Job centres push care work regardless because there are always jobs so there will be a never ending supply of these bullies and it is criminal.

I just wanted to say that there are many places with excellent care and support and these outweigh the bad ones by far. Just don't want people worrying unnecessarily about their relatives.

I am a whistleblower and I don't think I could go back in to working in care. The place I worked at was for adults with learning disabilities and the things that went on were awful, I honestly don't know how they're still running but they are.
I ended up leaving about 2 weeks after reporting it due to bullying 😔

Really hard to watch these people are absolutely vile - let's just say this would be the one time I'd agree with vigilantes

I've commented this on the thread in Telly Addicts. My OH works for Danshell/Cygnet (the takeover completes it's final phase at the end of the month) in the same type of facility, but not Whorlton Hall. All staff featured in the programme and others are being dealt with (either criminally or in house as applicable). The way staff are distributed has changed, and all buildings have cameras in most areas. All buildings have been inspected, and staff are being sent on training to meet any identified needs. Steps are being taken to remedy the situation. That building is being re-purposed.

I hope that offers some reassurance to people with loved ones in care.

Things like this will continue to happen while care work is still seen as an unskilled job with the cheapest labour, minimal checks and high staff turnover being the norm in many care facilities.

There are two care homes where I live. One is averagely expensive, has high staff turnover, often has lots of young and inexperienced staff and people often complain that their loved one in there is bored when they visit at the 'suggested' visiting times. The other is eye wateringly expensive, but you can see why when you go in, and no matter when you go in.

Properly decent care costs yet the cost of care for the elderly (or for children) is something that people often think is too expensive and should be cheaper.

There is a way that the Government could lessen the chance or risk of abuse in these homes. All it would take is the stroke of a pen but they wont do it.

They could take care work completely off the table in Job Centres.

So no one who is unsuitable for this job ends up doing it because the alternative is a benefit/UC sanction. .

Until this happens i will continue to rightly assume that they dont give a shit.

PeapodBurgundy

I think it will take a bit more than a PR message to reassure people about their loved ones. These companies always get busy after they’ve been busted and then carry on when everyone’s lost interest. Poor training. Ruthless management. Poor wages for care staff. Huge staff turnover. Cost cutting to make profit. Employment of persons not suited to caring etc etc

How patronising Peapod. Abuse like that cannot go unchecked unless there are extremely deep rooted cultural issues across the organisation, the only asset left would be scorched earth if I had my way.

to all of us who live and breath for our vulnerable loved ones.

Things like this will continue to happen while care work is still seen as an unskilled job with the cheapest labour, minimal checks and high staff turnover being the norm in many care facilities.

This.

I agree that, although it must have been awful to witness, they really needed that two months of evidence to show how systematic the abuse was. One day could have been written off as 'a bad day'.

@Cloudpillows I completely agree with you. I didn't mean to minimise what has gone on, or the suffering people have endured. It's obviously not acceptable on any level, and nothing can make it right for those people.

I can't quite describe how I feel about the impressions those select few have given of a company which, in other buildings, have great outcomes for patients, and have staff who genuinely care for them. It's not perfect by any stretch, but the issues genuinely aren't unanimous across the whole company. There are serious management and staffing issues in a lot of the buildings; a friend of mine also worked for Danshell, and was sexually abused at work. Nothing was done until she took them to court.

There are many lessons which have been taught, but not learned within the care industry, but it's, at present, more than lip service which is being paid, and some of these changes were being rolled out before the documentary, so were part of a larger plan, not just a reaction to bad press.

PeapodBurgundy
If you are suggesting that the company was aware that they have staff being abusive and haven't acted, that makes it worse not better! The simple fact is that the Nurse in charge, the RC, the catering staff and basically anyone else normally on the payroll would have seen or heard the abuse and did nothing. These places are closed off. Even visitors have to pre arrange and are confined to visitors rooms. They do not see what happens beyond the visitors lounge. When I visit my son, I am not allowed on the ward due to the confidentiality of the other patients. I can never visit unannounced, neither can anyone else. The only way to stop this is to get started on closing them down. In the meantime, inspections need to be done undercover so that staff are unaware they are being monitored. Only then will we find out what really happens in these places. I like to think my son is safe but this shows that appearances and cqc reports are utterly worthless. Some of the staff in the unit are very young people with virtually no training and qualifications. My ds is non verbal and cannot tell me if he is being treated properly.

@DovePetal I'm sorry to have offended. I wasn't trying to patronise. I'm was simply trying to illustrate that not all of the service users and patients under their care are treated in that way. There are (obviously) faults in a big way, but there are other patients receiving the support they need, and the service is working as intended. There are good, committed staff being tarred with the same brush as some seriously twisted people, and patients who are being well cared for and having their needs met at risk of being uprooted by a blanket removal of a service which isn't failing universally across the board.