We are still failing the most vulnerable in our society and this is an unacceptable situation for us to still be in. In May 2019, Whorlton Hall, a private NHS-funded hospital for people with learning disabilities, was the latest of disgraces to be screened on our televisions. And this followed another Panorama undercover operation at Winterbourne View in 2011 that revealed widespread abuse. Have no lessons been learnt? What we watched (again) were defenceless people being threatened with violence, being insulted, and being restrained in such a way that can only be described as torture. Where was the evidence that safeguarding governance was in place? Where was the good care, the care that puts people at the centre of all that is done? Where was the kindness and compassion?
In 2016 the Care Quality Commission's quality report gave Whorlton Hall an overall rating of ‘good’ (CQC, 2016). All categories were rated ‘good’ except ‘Are services safe?’, which ‘requires improvement’. Yet, in draft reports, all categories and the overall rating were given as ‘requires improvement’, but this did not make it into the final report.
What is needed is a regulator that is fit for purpose. Listening to residents and those involved in care delivery is as important, if not more important, than interrogating care plans, local policies and procedures. The role of the CQC should be to inspect care in action, to observe and listen to the experiences of those who use the services, their relatives, staff, managers and others who have a professional or personal association with the service (Burton, 2017).
The inhuman abuses that people regularly experienced at the hands of those who were meant to care for them have shocked the general public and the professions, at least for a little while. Sadly, there will be other revelations that will shock us and there will be another call for things to change. It is acknowledged that there is no cure-all that will prevent the next scandal, but we must minimise or prevent this abuse from occurring. Such television programmes alone will not prevent these atrocities, much more is needed and this has to start with the CQC. The question must be asked: are the CQC and the other regulatory and statutory agencies (council officials and the NHS) who visited Whorlton Hall fit for purpose?
When a CQC inspection is undertaken and there is evidence of abusive practices, the lead inspector is required to take immediate action to protect people. It appears that no action was taken after the August 2015 inspection (Trenholm, 2019). Residents of Whorlton Hall had previously accused staff of bullying and using inappropriate behaviour, but there was no information in reports specifying why a resident might have made allegations against staff and how the resident was to be provided with support and protection.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights, has a remit to consider human rights issues in the UK. It has summonsed the CQC to a hearing to answer questions about its regulation of Whorlton Hall.
The CQC has also commissioned its own independent review to be undertaken into how they have managed concerns raised by Barry Stanley-Wilkinson an ex-CQC inspector in relation to the regulation of Whorlton Hall. Stanley-Wilkinson had noted in his inspection in 2015 that there was a ‘poor culture’ at Whorlton Hall and alarm bells had been raised but ignored. The review is intended to focus on concerns raised about the draft report prepared in 2015 and how they were addressed through the CQC's internal procedures—how noble.
Enough is enough. For so many decades people have been subjected to care practices that are dehumanising. There must be no more harm as a result of staff abusing those who are vulnerable and very often helpless. Practice, good and bad, has to be discussed openly and without fear of retribution, debated, interrogated and questioned by colleagues regardless of who they are, and this includes the CQC. The emphasis has to be on patient safety.