Care home abuse does not represent a whole industry

A documentary on abuse of people with autism and learning difficulties in a care home has caused a scandal. Sheena Hastings reports.

WINTERBOURNE View supposedly exists to care for and nurture people with learning disabilities and autism. But instead, some of the patients at the residential hospital in Bristol were pinned down, slapped, dragged fully-clothed into showers, taunted and teased.

A pattern of serious abuse was uncovered by a BBC Panorama documentary and four people –three men and one woman – have so far been arrested in the ongoing police investigation into the running of the privately-owned, 24-bed facility funded by the taxpayer. The owners, who are paid an average of £3,500 a week per patient, have apologised unreservedly and 13 members of staff have been suspended.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The footage, secretly filmed over a five-week period by an undercover reporter, also revealed repeated barbaric use of physical restraint for patients with developmental disabilities, which a leading clinical psychologist has branded “the worst kind of institutional care... the kind of thing that was prevalent in the 1960s, and led Britain to gradually close the large, long-stay institutions.”

Families of people being “cared for” at the hospital had no idea what was happening behind closed doors. Regulatory body the Quality Care Commission now says there had been hints of “problems” at Winterbourne View which should have been acted on sooner.

While the Autism Society and others called for more rigorous checks, including unannounced inspections of homes and hospitals to prevent abuse, those who work in well-run facilities fear the scandal will affect the whole industry. Many families of service users in other facilities may be left wondering if all is as it seems.

“We believe that if someone shows unacceptable behaviour we should find out the reason for it and address that, rather than just dealing with the behaviour,” says Juliann Hall, deputy chief executive of Autism Plus, a charity which looks after 150 people in Yorkshire between supported living in the community, assisted living in apartments in Scarborough and a residential centre in Thorne near Doncaster, funded by contracts with 28 local authorities.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We were all taken aback by the obvious systematic failures at Winterbourne View. We don’t use restraint and our alternative methods work. Where restraint procedures are used you’ll often find that it’s because a service is understaffed. It’s important not to resort to restraint, even though we have encountered a high level of challenging behaviour at first in some service users.”

Take the case of Stuart (not his real name), a young man from Yorkshire with autism and learning disabilities, whose extreme behaviour led to him being sent to a secure mental health unit 100 miles away from home. Even there staff found it difficult to deal with him. Over several years, more and more money was put into increasing staffing around Stuart, until three staff members were with him during waking hours. A local authority review led to him being moved, and he went into the care of Autism Plus’s residential home, initially with two staff members looking after him. After eight months, his progress was so good that now only one carer needs to be with him.

“The secret is listening and understanding,” says Hall. “Stuart is now the happiest, liveliest person, who is learning the norms of social behaviour, and is able to go to the shops and had his birthday party in the local pub recently. He doesn’t need to be locked up.

“When people with autism or learning disabilities present challenging behaviour it’s about frustration in not being able to communicate. We also employ staff with the right attitude and staff turnover is very low. Some of those who work with people who have autism or learning disabilities have a tendency to make assumptions that service users don’t have the feelings and aspirations we all have.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

One of Autism Plus’s methods is to create a “circle of support” for the individual, so that people who know him/her in different contexts – parents, siblings, carers, friends – contribute what they know and how they communicate with them. Techniques to improve communication in order to understand and moderate challenging behaviour include teaching sign language and using pictures to help them to explain their thoughts and express emotion.

For families worried about finding the right care for a loved one Autism Plus suggest www.mybudgetbrokerage.org, which offers advice.

Related topics: