Health minister challenged over hospital ‘abuse’ scandals following Independent investigation

‘Tory chaos means the government has not engaged with abuse allegations for weeks’ said Dr Rosena Allin-Khan

Maria Caulfield says the government are investigating allegations of ‘systemic abuse’ (PA Archive)

New health minister Maria Caulfield is “looking at” safety in mental health units, she said on Tuesday after she was challenged about “abuse” uncovered by The Independent and Sky News.

Allegations of “systemic abuse” against hospitals owned by private provider The Huntercombe Group, now owned by Active Care Group, were revealed last week.

During questions in the 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.”

In September, the BBC’s Panorama programme published a report exposing abuse within the Edenfield centre run by the Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation NHS Trust.

Dr Allin-Khan asked the new mental health minister Maria Caulfield 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.

The charity Inquest has called for a public inquiry to scrutinise safety across mental health units in the UK following the reports by The Independent, Sky News and Panorama.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), in response to The Independent’s investigation, said it took the allegations “very seriously” and is “investigating the concerns raised”.

When asked for more details the DHSC said NHS England would reach out to the families identified.

However, when later asked, the DHSC would not provide any further details on how it is investigating allegations.

Ms Caulfield is also the minister for women, and has faced controversy over previous votes against having “safe zones” around abortion clinics.

In answer to the question from Dr Allin-Khan, Ms Caulfield 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 DHSC was asked to set out further details on how the minister intends to examine patients’ safety within mental health hospitals.