UK NHS mental health hospital staff in Manchester caught torturing & abusing patients
Hospital staff “acted like a gang, not a group of healthcare professionals,” said Dr Van Velsen, a consultant psychiatrist” denouncing the acts of misconduct.
In a shocking incident, UK Police are investigating the case of NHS staff allegedly bullying the patients at a mental health hospital whom they slapped, mocked, humiliated and verbally abused. During an undercover investigation by BBC Panorama, the NHS staff at the Edenfield centre was filmed molesting the patients in what is being probed as gruesome acts of misconduct.
The programme Undercover Hospital: Patients at Risk was aired on Wednesday and showed vulnerable mental health patients restrained in the seclusion units, and subjected to harsh treatment—torture and physical abuse. The isolation cells were designed to hold the mentally challenged patients for weeks or in some cases months. They were locked up mostly with no or short breaks. The hospital was operated by the Greater Manchester mental health NHS foundation trust.
Perversion, aggression & lack of boundary
A consultant psychiatrist, named Dr Cleo Van Velsen, in a statement, said that the hospital misconduct depicted the staff’s “corruption, perversion, aggression, hostility, lack of boundaries.” The Panorama footage is being watched and investigated by the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to establish the identity of the offenders, the Guardian newspaper reports. As many as 40 patients and 25 staff were involved in the crime, and dozens of staff members have since been discharged from their duties.
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Greater Manchester mental health NHS foundation trust, meanwhile, stressed that it is taking the allegations of misconduct “very seriously.” It informed that many staff members were suspended and that “immediate action” was taken in order to protect patients.
“We are working closely with local and national partners including NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and Greater Manchester police to ensure the safety of these services. We will cooperate fully with all investigations,” the trust said in a statement.
“We owe it to our patients, their families and carers, the public and our staff that these allegations are fully investigated to ensure we provide the best care, every day, for all the communities we serve.”
Michaela Kerr, the head of GMP’s public protection department told the paper, “It goes without saying that these allegations are concerning.” Furthermore, he iterated, that since the case was brought to the trust’s attention, “we have been working with partner agencies to ensure the safeguarding of vulnerable individuals.” “We’ve also obtained the information required to open criminal investigations, and inquiries are ongoing to ensure all offences are recorded and those involved identified,” he said.
Some of the acts that have caught the attention of the police involve a 22-year-old mental health patient who apparently stopped eating after the hospital staff allegedly called her “fat.” Later, they clarified that they were “joking.” A nurse was also seen in the visuals refusing to check on the patient as she attempted to commit suicide.
Instead, the hospital staff laughed and joked and said words to the effect that the patient was “only crying” and “if she slit her throat you’d know it” because “she’d tell everybody about it”.
In another case, a hospital member was recorded removing a patient’s clothing and repeatedly slapping her bare skin while the same nurse laughed and joked.
The hospital staff “acted like a gang, not a group of healthcare professionals,” said Dr Van Velsen, a consultant psychiatrist. “It’s against any policy I’ve ever seen about restraint in doing this.”
