People deserve better

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.