§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many allegations of cruelty or abuse to patients in special hospitals have been made during the last seven years; and what disciplinary procedures have been taken as a result.
§ Mr. WhitneyAt Rampton hospital, a special police inquiry team was set up in May 1979, following allegations of widespread ill-treatment of patients. The police team, which completed its work in May 1983, investigated more than 1,000 allegations, some of which related to incidents alleged to have occurred several years previously. As a consequence of that investigation, 24 members of the staff of the hospital were charged with one or more offences. Of those, 10 were convicted of one or more offences, three subsequently had their convictions quashed by the Appeal Court and a further five are at present awaiting the hearing of appeals to the House of Lords. Disciplinary procedures have been initiated in all cases of staff still employed at the hospital who were convicted, but that action is in suspense in those cases where the outcome of the appeal is still awaited. Between May 1983 and December 1985, 51 allegations of physical cruelty or abuse were made to the hospital managers. None of those resulted in disciplinary procedures. It is understood that the police also continued to receive allegations during that period, some of which repeated earlier allegations, but none of them resulted in prosecutions.
The position in the other three special hospitals in the seven years 1979 to 1985 was as follows:
Broadmoor Hospital
Seventy-eight allegations of various kinds were made. Following preliminary investigation either to clarify the nature of the allegation or to establish whether there was any supporting evidence or corroboration, 18 of these allegations were investigated more fully. In three of these cases, the patients concerned referred the matter to the police. In 11 other cases, the hospital managers asked the police to investigate and in one of those cases a member of the staff was prosecuted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Disciplinary procedures were taken in that case (resulting in dismissal) and in one other case. In addition, two members of staff were formally counselled by their professional superiors.Moss Side Hospital
149WThere were 55 allegations. Twenty-three of these were referred to the police but there were no prosecutions. Disciplinary procedures were followed in three cases and, in addition, five members of staff were formally counselled by their professional superiors.Park Lane Hospital
There were 10 allegations, of which six were referred to the police for investigation. No prosecutions or disciplinary procedures resulted.