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Response to Panorama programme on the abuse of people with learning disabilities
Julie Beadle-Brown
Staff at the Centre are shocked and appalled at the abuse of people with learning disabilities and autism revealed in last night’s programme.
Unlike in the old long stay institutions where this type of abuse was more commonplace, there was no shortage of staff in this service. However, it seems that staff were bored, with little to do other than find opportunities to “pounce and restrain”, to control those whom they were supposed to be supporting. Even more worrying was that senior staff within the hospital appeared complicit in the abuse and did not challenge what they were seeing - and those who did challenge were not listened to.
However, there are many organisations and many staff who are providing good support for people with similar - and indeed substantially more severe - levels of needs to those living in Winterbourne View, helping them to live a good life in the community. From the video footage, it appeared there was no reason why these people had to be in a secure large hospital setting like this. There are alternative models of accommodation and support which have been shown to successfully support people with learning disabilities and which do not necessarily cost more money. The nature of the setting limited opportunities for people to be involved in the activities of daily life and in the footage we saw people spending most of their time sitting, standing or lying around or pacing. However, the service model and environment was not the only issue and staff training (or lack of it), attitudes, culture and leadership are all likely to be important in explaining what happened at Winterbourne View.
We hope that the people and families involved in the programme can recover and find a much more supportive environment in which to live, and a staff team which will focus on providing them with the opportunities and support for a good quality of life, in addition to basic human rights. The families who agreed to have the film footage shown should be commended for their bravery, as should the former staff member who was forced to involve the media in order to get any response to his concerns. The spotlight on the bad practices people sometimes experience will hopefully result in positive change for people with learning disabilities and autism.
1/06/11