Abuse of vulnerable people at County Durham hospital.

The bosses will no doubt say they were not aware and are conducting an 'urgent review'.

The reality is they are culpable as its happened on their watch, but I would be prepared to bet a lot of money that none of the directors of the company concerned comes from a care working background.
All that plus they’ll have liability insurance protecting them.

I've been working in this kind of area, but more of a community setting and not for profit, for about 2 1/2 years and agree with everything you've said there. Sometimes physical intervention can't be avoided. Watching the documentary though the staff caused the behaviours, in none of the situations was restraint necessary, and the restraints used were unnecessarily dangerous for the patients.

I have once helped restrain someone on the floor, and mostly had to use restraints to prevent people harming themselves or other service users. I have been hit, pushed, spat at, and kicked, but this all been pretty minor stuff. Only once was I worried I might be seriously hurt but I got help and the person was supported to calm down with no physical intervention.

It can be hard thinking you could do an easier job for the same money, but then it wouldn't be as rewarding either.
Well said mate. Also working in this field and physical intervention is needed.
 
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It is very easy for that kind of culture to develop, all it takes is for staff to view the patients as children who need to learn.

Without the full context it's hard to say what most of the staff have done which would lead to criminal charges but goading patients and then putting them in restraint without any cause is f***ing ridiculous, it happens everywhere though, the NHS or private makes no difference it just gets covered up, staff get moved on quietly and this whole moving people into the community won't stop it, if anything it makes people much more vulnerable, it means they're more isolated and easier to abuse.

It's no different to a pissed lass at 4 am walking home, where there's vulnerability there's predators.
 
My daughter worked in a care home in Newcastle a few years back. They were told times were hard when it came to pay rise time and got nowt. A few weeks later the owner of the homes was all over the chronicle because he hired Take That to perform specially for his wife's birthday in a marquee in their garden.

Absolutely disgusting that mind, the "unacceptable face of capitalism".
 
It is very easy for that kind of culture to develop, all it takes is for staff to view the patients as children who need to learn.

Without the full context it's hard to say what most of the staff have done which would lead to criminal charges but goading patients and then putting them in restraint without any cause is f***ing ridiculous, it happens everywhere though, the NHS or private makes no difference it just gets covered up, staff get moved on quietly and this whole moving people into the community won't stop it, if anything it makes people much more vulnerable, it means they're more isolated and easier to abuse.

It's no different to a pissed lass at 4 am walking home, where there's vulnerability there's predators.
People are potentially just as vulnerable but you tend not to get such a institutional mindset and when people live in the community they tend to have connections to their community, neighbours, friends, links to church or voluntary organisations, more visits from family etc. Those are powerful protective factors and make people's lives " bigger" and more " ordinary" in many respects. Of course it's just as possible for abuse to occur if you just dump people in a house that operates as a mini institution with little integration into communities and no independent external scrutiny. For all that the Winterbourne view and this scandal demonstrate some people are arseholes that's not actually my overall experience of the staff in these settings, most are remarkable, kind and dedicated but with little proper support and woeful leadership. Not many people set out out to be arseholes.
 
There will be some staff I. That home who are fantastic who have lost their jobs and tarnished through these people. It’s awful.
There will, I was involved in closing one of the castlebeck hospitals and most folk were decent. Quite a few knew nothing about the client group they were supporting and were therefore a bit rubbish at their job but that's relatively easily rectifiable if you've recruited decent people with good attitudes and get to them before the sort of culture develops that allows not only poor practice through ignorance/ lack of training but abusive behaviour.

That said you can't work in a place like that without getting to know what's happening and then you have a duty to challenge it, some staff there may have done so but I'm guessing a lot didn't.
 
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That said you can't work in a place like that without getting to know what's happening and then you have a duty to challenge it, some staff there may have done so but I'm guessing a lot didn't.

Or maybe some did and it just fell on deaf ears.

I've been looking into the Winterbourne View case and six people ended up in jail for abuse and neglect. I hope a similar outcome comes from this Abuse home care workers jailed
 
There will, I was involved in closing one of the castlebeck hospitals and most folk were decent. Quite a few knew nothing about the client group they were supporting and were therefore a bit rubbish at their job but that's relatively easily rectifiable if you've recruited decent people with good attitudes and get to them before the sort of culture develops that allows not only poor practice through ignorance/ lack of training but abusive behaviour.

That said you can't work in a place like that without getting to know what's happening and then you have a duty to challenge it, some staff there may have done so but I'm guessing a lot didn't.
I've known plenty of staff report things but if there's no cameras there's no evidence, say for example your report abuse all that happens is the abusing staff then accuse you, management and safeguarding teams then have to make a judgment of who to believe, and even when a home has cameras like you saw last night, staff just wait for their opportunities in bedrooms or bathrooms.

I'm also not sure what cqc or even management can do in this situation, pay is poor and conditions are very challenging, so staff turnover is high and just getting the right number of staff can be a nightmare, so then you are left with the choice of shit staff, no staff or scumbags like some of them last night.

I'd be amazed if some didn't challenge it to be honest. Trouble is when staff whistleblow and nothing changes they tend to just leave.
Nail on head
 
I only saw excerpts of this on the 10 o'clock news last night. No way could I have watched Panorama. The whole thing is reprehensible, to see that poor girl, who is scared of men taunted broke my heart what that bastard was doing to her. Repugnant.
 
I was yelling at the TV screen at several points watching it - I did a restraint training course recently and it was so carefully controlled, certified to within an inch of its life (if you haven't had the box ticked that you've been taught a certain hold you just do not bloody do it - full stop), and everything was emphasising de-escalation and NOT getting to the point you need to restrain people... and a procedure basically to tell any colleague "you are about to lose it here - get the hell out of here I AM taking over". The staff on that documentary were getting kicks out of pushing patients to the point they melted down so they could play the big guy and restrain them and exert their power - bullying basically - the same stuff you see in school where I bet they were the kids who pushed the buttons of the kid they knew would blow their top so that they could turn around and belt him one ... but in a position now where they had all the power and the patients were utterly powerless.

Chilled me to be honest - I have a child with speech and communication problems and we have had enough bother this year with the teacher taking the piss and not doing what she should be and banking on the fact they don't think my kid's got the communication skills to let on that things are going on like that... and that's just with a very high-functioning kid with a few development issues and some problems communicating (unfortunately for the teacher - she CAN get through what's going on) in a generally good environment (one shite teacher)... to see people picking on people who have much more difficulty was awful. Daft thing is so many of those situations would have been easily defused if you cared about the patients and had read their care plans and acted on them - they wanted them to kick off so they could basically wallop them one.
 
Sickening, just sickening. The depths to which people stoop when they think they have power over the vulnerable.

My ma is very ill at the moment and our efforts aren’t enough so we’ve had to consider the possibility of respite care. This just stops that thinking stone dead. I would swing for someone who behaved like that with my loved ones.

There will be some staff I. That home who are fantastic who have lost their jobs and tarnished through these people. It’s awful.

They’ll be the staff who turned a blind eye then, as that degree of abuse couldn’t be missed. Shame on them for not whistle blowing.
 
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I caught a few minutes of it and had to turn it off. imagine going to work each day and engaging in that type of behaviour. some people need locking up for what they were doing.

a few years ago, I worked at a well known school, for young people with disabilities. being new to the job and not having years of service or a pension, I started making my feelings known, about some of the situations I was finding myself in and the lack of support by management. taking non verbal autistic adults on walks in winter, in unsuitable clothing and footwear and on routes that we were fortunate not to have had a major incident or even serious injury. i'd say there'd been zero risk assessments done on a couple of the walks. I made my feelings known to other staff members and that will have been passed up the food chain. lo and behold, when I was off work, with an injured knee, I was 'let go'. no exit interview, as their terms stated.

i'd imagine the majority of staff, are really dedicated and as has been said, a few bad apples have tarred everyone.
 
I was yelling at the TV screen at several points watching it - I did a restraint training course recently and it was so carefully controlled, certified to within an inch of its life (if you haven't had the box ticked that you've been taught a certain hold you just do not bloody do it - full stop), and everything was emphasising de-escalation and NOT getting to the point you need to restrain people... and a procedure basically to tell any colleague "you are about to lose it here - get the hell out of here I AM taking over". The staff on that documentary were getting kicks out of pushing patients to the point they melted down so they could play the big guy and restrain them and exert their power - bullying basically - the same stuff you see in school where I bet they were the kids who pushed the buttons of the kid they knew would blow their top so that they could turn around and belt him one ... but in a position now where they had all the power and the patients were utterly powerless.

Chilled me to be honest - I have a child with speech and communication problems and we have had enough bother this year with the teacher taking the piss and not doing what she should be and banking on the fact they don't think my kid's got the communication skills to let on that things are going on like that... and that's just with a very high-functioning kid with a few development issues and some problems communicating (unfortunately for the teacher - she CAN get through what's going on) in a generally good environment (one shite teacher)... to see people picking on people who have much more difficulty was awful. Daft thing is so many of those situations would have been easily defused if you cared about the patients and had read their care plans and acted on them - they wanted them to kick off so they could basically wallop them one.

Pretty spot on of the lad I know, who was one of the ones doing the restraining

Sickening, just sickening. The depths to which people stoop when they think they have power over the vulnerable.

My ma is very ill at the moment and our efforts aren’t enough so we’ve had to consider the possibility of respite care. This just stops that thinking stone dead. I would swing for someone who behaved like that with my loved ones.



They’ll be the staff who turned a blind eye then, as that degree of abuse couldn’t be missed. Shame on them for not whistle blowing.

There had been complaints for the last 3 years or more the watchdog has apologised for not doing anything about it
 
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Sickening, just sickening. The depths to which people stoop when they think they have power over the vulnerable.

My ma is very ill at the moment and our efforts aren’t enough so we’ve had to consider the possibility of respite care. This just stops that thinking stone dead. I would swing for someone who behaved like that with my loved ones.



They’ll be the staff who turned a blind eye then, as that degree of abuse couldn’t be missed. Shame on them for not whistle blowing.
Of course it can be missed, if it's not in camera and you aren't there when it happens how are you supposed to know it's happening?
 
Did a sale and leaseback on all of their freeholds if I recall correctly. Suck all of the money out and leaving an empty shell of a business and lots of vulnerable people high and dry. Asset stripping at its absolute worst.

A model the vast majority of the sector are now following again. Have a look at REIT's. Zero lessons learned and its all going to happen again.
 

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