New health minister Maria Caufield has said she is “looking at” safety in mental health units when challenged about “abuse” uncovered by The Independent last month.
During questions in Commons on Tuesday, Labour’s shadow health minister Dr Rosena Allin Khan said: “In the last four weeks there have been three investigations into abuse in inpatient mental health settings the government should be on top of things not relying on undercover reports from Sky News, The Independent and Panorama.
“Patients languishing in seclusion, excessive use of restraint, bullying and dehumanisation, and falsification of medical records.
“Patients and their families rightly expect to be safe. Tory chaos means the government has not engaged with abuse allegations, for weeks there hasn’t been a functioning mental health minister.”
The question comes after The Independent and Sky News revealed “systemic abuse” allegations against hospitals owned by private provider The Huntercombe Group, now owned by Active Care Group.
In September, BBC Panorama published a report exposing abuse within the Edenfield centre run by NHS hospital, Greater Manchester Mental Health Hospital Foundation Trust.
Dr Allin-Khan asked new mental health minister Maria Caufield if she will conduct a rapid review of mental health inpatient units, respond to Labour’s concerns about inpatient mental health services and apologise to patients and their families.
Charity INQUEST has called for a public inquiry to scrutinise safety across mental health units in the UK following the reports of The Independent, Sky News and panorama.
The Department of Health and Social Care in response to The Independent’s investigation said it took the allegations “very seriously” and is “investigating the concerns raised”.
However, when later asked the DHSC would not provide any further details on how it is investigating allegations.
Ms Caufield is also the DHCS’ minister for women and has faced controversy over previous votes against having “safe zones” around abortion clinics.
Ms Caufield said in answer to the question from Dr Allin-Khan said: “Of course, we apologise for the cases we have seen, anyone who watched some of those programmes, they’re both distressing and unacceptable care. I am not just the minister for mental health, I am the minister for patient safety
“So I will be looking at not just the cases in Panorama and other programmes but across the board, because I want to make sure inpatient mental health services are as safe as possible.
“We know that these are some of the most vulnerable patients who can’t speak out when there are problems and we are looking at the staffing, training and reporting mechanisms. In the particular case that was highlighted in the Panorama programme the government is working closely with NHS England the CQC and those individual trusts.”
The Department for Health and Social Care was asked to set out further details on how the minister intends to examine patients’ safety within mental health hospitals.
Kaynak: briturkish.com