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How to profit from NHS-funded torture and neglect

Started by Zetetic, May 23, 2019, 07:49:21 PM

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Zetetic

The English government continues to deepen the staffing crises across the UK, now abandoning a plan to recruit nurses from abroad because of the conflict with appearing tough on immigration.

There's now a billboard outside of Cardiff Queen Street pointing out that "An English NHS hospital will no longer take patients from Wales" (this is to with Chester/Wrexham crossborder treatment and England trying to unilaterally impose new prices on NHS Wales).

And it's there to advertise an album by a rapper from Nottingham - https://twitter.com/slowthai/status/1134078327927558145 - because that's what this country can muster. (He might be alright for all I know.)

Small Man Big Horse

I ended up going to an urgent care centre on Saturday morning at 4am, I've been having irritating leg spasms for a while now which I thought I'd cured by taking magnesium tablets, but two months ago they started up again and on Thursday and Friday night I got no sleep at all as everyone time I lied down it'd start spasming like crazy and after the Mrs thought she saw a blood clot she called an ambulance. It turned out not to be a clot but they took me in to the local hospital just to see they could find out why I was spasming so much, only for the one Doctor in attendance having to leave and I saw an incredibly rude nurse instead, she took my details but seemed bored and annoyed by my existence and tried to persuade me to leave as another doctor wouldn't be present for another 90 minutes. I stuck around, eventually saw the Doctor, who was incredibly sympathetic (and worried about what was going on and that I hadn't slept in so long) who gave me some industrial strength pain killers and a referral for my GP to look in to the matter, and when I finally got home I slept for eight desperately needed hours.

In short: I know nurses have to put up with a lot of shit, and many are lovely, etc, etc, but the one I spoke to was an utter cunt.

Dr Rock

This is all disturbing, I checked to see if there are any cygnet places close to me, no really. There's one just opened (by the mayor himself) in Maidstone (my home town), and from the website you'd have no idea it wasn't fully NHS.

https://www.cygnethealth.co.uk/news/cygnet-hospital-maidstones-grand-opening-day/

Quote"The new hospital has been purpose-built to meet the latest NHS specifications for improving mental health within a therapeutic environment and will ensure Kent patients can receive the treatment and care they need close to family and friends."
Simba Kaseke, Hospital Manager

It makes me mad these people are a private company doing what the NHS should be fully doing, with staff on proper wages.

Some comments from Cygnet's Facebook page, following them posting that apology about Whorlton Hall

QuoteI was a patient in a Cygnet hospital and that kind of behaviour from staff isn't just in that hospital alone that's for sure. Your whole organisation is corrupt and fuelled on the profits of unwell individuals.

QuoteIf you are truly as shocked and saddened as you say, then i suggest you stop ignoring the abuse happening on the eating disorders ward at cygnet ealing, which has been going on for over six years, leaving vulnerable patients terrified to speak up about the way they are treated, as staff are free to psychologically, mentally and physically abuse them. the restraints shown in the panorama episode last night were diffucult to watch, as i both experienced and witnessed similar restraints whilst a patient at cygnet ealing.

QuoteHaving worked for Cygnet this does not surprise me, its a narcissus paradise for bullying of service users and staff by failed managers

Don't know what I can do about it, but at least some people (read all the FB comments if you like) know that this isn't about one or two bad apples, it's the company that is responsible.
https://www.facebook.com/cygnethealthcare

Zetetic

Well:

I suggest finding out about private units local to you - starting with Cygnet's (as Dr Rock has done) - and writing to your local representatives (from councillors to MPs - they all have some remit here).

I would ask when they last visited these places, if they're happy that they're safe and - if they're Labour or Plaid or SNP or Green etc. - asking if they think that essential NHS-funded services should be run by private companies.

If you're in England, FoI your CCG and ask them how much they've spent on privately-provided mental health and LD inpatient placements in the last 5 years.

Dr Rock

The Catweazle-style fella I met in Costa the other week mentioned he'd just been to an old people's home and they were all 'emaciated.' I asked him which one, and he said 'Hornsey Road' but I couldn't dig up anything as there several in Hornsey. He asked me if I was a journalist. Obviously not or I would have got more info. He said they weren't being given enough food. I've been meaning to write to our (awesome) local MP Catherine West to see if she can find out, guess i should definitely do that. I could ask her to bring Cygnet/Private Health up in Parliament too.

Fambo Number Mive

Would Private Eye be interested in this? They reported on the Solar Centre day centre abuse in Doncaster several times. Unlike a lot of the media.

Zetetic

I don't know what the right way to frame it is for something like Private Eye.

I note the USA stuff blowing up (but few people making the connection with Cygnet).


Fambo Number Mive

CQC have also launched an inquiry into claims by a former inspector who said he "blew the whistle on abuse" at Whorlton Hall Hospital in 2015

https://twitter.com/ShaunLintern/status/1134440448955695109

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48416870

Fambo Number Mive

And here's another report of abuse of people with disabilities, this time at a home run by the National Autistic Society, Mendip House. No one was prosecuted. No one was named

QuoteAutistic residents were subjected to "cruel behaviour", bullying and humiliation at a care home in Somerset, a safeguarding report has found.

Mendip House staff were said to have made one man crawl on all fours, threw cake at another and used residents' money to buy themselves meals.

A "gang of controlling male staff" had dominated the home, the report said. Five people were eventually dismissed.

The National Autistic Society (NAS), which ran the home, has apologised...

Residents were said to have paid for staff meals on days out and almost £10,000 was eventually refunded.

One resident was "known to flinch in the presence of particular employees", another was allegedly made to "crawl around on all fours".

A further claim was made that staff threw cake at one resident's head and "when he requested a biscuit, he was given an onion to eat"...

It emerged that whistleblowers had tried several times to raise concerns about practices at the home dating back to November 2014.

NAS held its own investigations into allegations of abusive conduct without alerting the CQC or local authority.

Whistleblowers would often resign while those accused "were given warnings following disciplinaries and retained or recycled within the service", the report said...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-42974755

An absolute joke. How can staff members who made residents pay for staff meals not be prosecuted for fraud, at the very least?

QuoteThe abuse, the bullying, the cruelty were simply grotesque. One person is said to have been made to eat a pizza covered in mustard, then some yogurt with more mustard, which left them being sick – only for their vomit to be put in a glass of water they were forced to drink.

Another terrified resident was slapped, ordered to eat chilli and repeatedly thrown in a swimming pool. A third had a ribbon put round their neck and was ridden 'like a horse.' Others had to crawl on all fours and had cake thrown at them.

This barbarity took place in a care home that was being controlled by a gang of abusive men – and the salaries of the brutes behind this torture of people with autism was funded by taxpayers...

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/columnists/mendip-house-autism-abuse-failings/

A £4000 fine was issued for the financial abuse, and staff "were dismissed" according to the NAS but they do not say how many were.

Fambo Number Mive

QuoteIan Trenholm and Dr Paul Lelliott will be appearing before the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) on Wednesday 12 June to answer questions about CQC's regulation of Whorlton Hall.

Ahead of this appearance, the Committee have asked for the previously unpublished findings of a 2015 inspection of Whorlton Hall.

We have commissioned David Noble QSO to undertake an independent review into how we dealt with concerns raised by Barry Stanley-Wilkinson, an ex-CQC inspector, in relation to the regulation of Whorlton Hall. This review will focus on concerns raised about the draft report prepared in 2015, and how they were addressed through our internal processes. It will be for the independent reviewer to report on the handling of our draft reports and it is important not to pre-empt their findings. However, we are keen to co-operate with the Committee to the fullest extent and so have today shared the following documents...

https://www.cqc.org.uk/news/stories/cqc-shares-previously-unpublished-findings-2015-inspection-whorlton-hall


QuoteCare Quality Commission inspectors were aware patients at Whorlton Hall had accused staff of "bullying and inappropriate behaviour", according to a draft report.

According to a 2015 draft CQC report for Whorlton Hall hospital, where the horrifying abuse of patients with learning disabilities was exposed by BBC Panorama last month, "patients had accused staff of bullying and using inappropriate behaviour".

However, the CQC has claimed its draft "did not raise any concerns about abusive practice", in response to allegations by a former inspector, Barry Stanley-Wilkinson, who claimed his original report did raise concerns over poor care.

The CQC has since commissioned an independent inquiry into its regulation of Whorlton Hall.

Four versions of the CQC's draft report have been published today, all of which said: "Patients had accused staff of bullying and using inappropriate behaviour. Where patients had a known history of making allegations there were care plans in place with clear protocols for staff to follow.

"We did note in one patient's records it stated where they made allegations against staff the first step was to 'ignore' the allegation and escalate only if the allegation was repeated. There was no information detailing why the patient may make allegations against staff and how the patient was to be supported and protected."...

https://www.hsj.co.uk/patient-safety/draft-cqc-report-had-accused-whorlton-hall-staff-of-bullying/7025272.article

Zetetic

It's increasingly hard to argue that the CQC isn't completely fucked as a regulator - it's done an awful lot of prop-up the respectability of the NHS in England and DoH policy in turn, and is looking more and more than it can't respond properly even in the most straightforward cases.

In my country, one of the charities (plus a Royal College) has just kicked off about the closely-linked issue Out-of-Area placements, with some BBC coverage. Looks like they put some not entirely well-worded FoI requests in back in December (useful to learn from though, not least because there's some interesting exemption-juggling going on). No one has quite made the connection with for-profit providers as a part of the story, curiously.

Interestingly one of their main complaints is that their facilities - local, third sector - are running at a huge loss!

Mr Eggs

Ever thought about chucking it all in and getting a HVG license and driving bin wagons?

Fambo Number Mive

QuoteFOUR people have resigned from the government's long-awaited review into the use of restraint, seclusion and segregation of people with learning disabilities and autism following revelations about a private hospital in County Durham.

The members of the expert advisory group to the review commissioned by Health Secretary Matt Hancock quit over the Care Quality Commission's handling of the Whorlton Hall scandal, which came to light last month.

Yesterday the Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Social Care, Barbara Keeley, called for an independent inquiry into the CQC to determine whether it was "fit for purpose"...

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/17714387.four-resign-from-government-review-after-whorlton-hall-scandal/

The CQC reports it has commissioned Professor Glynis Murphy to undertake an independent review of its regulation of Whorlton Hall between 2015 and 2019.


bgmnts

Why am I not profiting from torture and neglect?

Fambo Number Mive

QuoteTHREE nurses have been suspended while an investigation into alleged abuse at a private hospital in County Durham continues.

The 18-month interim suspension orders were made in respect of three registered nurses, following allegations of abuse at Whorlton Hall, in Whorlton, near Barnard Castle, which came to light in May.

The hospital, run by Cygnet Health Care, which provided care for adults with learning disabilities and autism, closed after the alleged physical and psychological abuse of patients was broadcast by the BBC's Panorama programme...

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/17758647.three-nurses-suspended-whorlton-hall-abuse-investigation/?ref=twtrec



Fambo Number Mive

It's really frustrating how little much of the public and the media seem to care about this. I remember watching the Winterbourne View Panorama which I think is on youtube if not on the iplayer. It's very hard to watch.


Zetetic

I believe the response to the question that I referenced a post or two ago is effectively a lie by omission, incidentally.

(I've been advised by a friend to seek HR advice before I pursue any of this any further. Imagine talking to the union might be an idea as well.)

Zetetic

Another isolated bad egg at a Cygnet hospital.

The other lesson to learn from this is that the CQC is either unable or unwilling to actually regulate these places. Anyone placed at any hospital in England is at risk, unless you have your own staff there to monitor near-constantly.




The (UK Labour) Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Social Care Barbara Keeley seems to be taking a stronger stance on needing to replace private providers with public provision: https://twitter.com/KeeleyMP/status/1162327518134841344

Fambo Number Mive

Says a lot about how important the BBC News website thinks the abuse of disabled people in hospitals is that I didn't notice this story until you posted it. Whereas far less important stories get featured on the BBC News UK website or even the front page of the site.

Although at least the BBC reports these stories.

According to the Northern Echo, Sean McNulty worked at Newbus Grange for 14 years.

Sebastian Cobb

Is your job anything to do with 'health informatics' zet?

If so, do you know anything about OpenEHR?

Zetetic

A bit, and a little bit. On the latter - most systems are so far away from anything like the standardisation that openEHR aims at, and the work that I do is overwhelmingly concerned with non-clinical information or uses.

Is that what you're moving to Scotland to do stuff with? (They seem relatively advanced, in principle if not in practice yet, on this sort of thing.)

Continuing by PM might be easier.




Quote from: Fambo Number Mive on September 08, 2019, 03:20:46 PM
Although at least the BBC reports these stories.
But rarely with much context.

Still trying to work a way forward on this, bearing in mind there's clearly a lot more politics going on at the moment.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Zetetic on September 08, 2019, 03:50:56 PM
A bit, and a little bit. On the latter - most systems are so far away from anything like the standardisation that openEHR aims at, and the work that I do is overwhelmingly concerned with non-clinical information or uses.

Is that what you're moving to Scotland to do stuff with? (They seem relatively advanced, in principle if not in practice yet, on this sort of thing.)



I've lived in Scotland since I went to university, in the early 2000's and never left.

I might have something tangentially related to OpenEHR and might pm you about it.

Zetetic

Ah, apologies for the poor recollection. I now don't know why I thought that you were moving (or if I should've been thinking of someone else).

Sebastian Cobb

I moved jobs and post shite about living in Scotland, I assume its that.

touchingcloth

"Ooh Scotland is so good they have all good things in Scotland like chips."

If you love Scotland so much why don't you fuck off and live there?

Also, if there are PMs going on discussing how to profit from torture and neglect I want in. Cheers.

imitationleather

This poster profits from torture and neglect. Humanitarians hate him!

José

they usually recruit their staff through the jobcentre, jobseekers are browbeaten into taking this kind of work with the threat of sanctioning.
that's how i ended up working in the private care industry at a home not even remotely equipped for palliative care that decided it was going to run itself as a hospice. presumably this was a way to scam more funding/charity donations or whatever. i was accused of being a journalist multiple times, patted down for hidden cameras and threatened with both violence and litigation because i "asked too many questions" and "talked posh".

the only decent people working there were the migrants (who the english staff told me to 'let do all the work') but they'd burn through them pretty quickly once they realized how shitty these people were to work for. the couple running the place eventually came under investigation and fled to the continent, it's under new management and from what i've heard it's a totally different place now.











touchingcloth

What's the most profit someone has made from this?