Muckamore Abbey Hospital Inquiry: Public hearings to begin

Public hearings are to start in the inquiry into allegations of abuse of patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital.

The inquiry's chair Tom Kark QC is to make his opening statement.

Other core participants include parents of patients, the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust which is in charge of the hospital, the Department of Health, the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) and the PSNI.

Muckamore Abbey Hospital is already at the centre of the UK's biggest ever police investigation into the abuse of vulnerable adults.

Some staff working at the County Antrim hospital are alleged to have carried out physical and mental abuse as well as "wilful neglect" of vulnerable patients.

Detectives have viewed about 300,000 hours of CCTV footage from inside the hospital.

Police have arrested 34 people; so far eight people have been charged, and more than 70 staff have been suspended as a precaution.

It is critical that those with a learning disability have their voices heard - and it shouldn't take a public inquiry to hear what they have to say.

The Muckamore Abbey Hospital crisis makes for uncomfortable reading.

For decades this institution has been home to hundreds of men and women.

It was a place which was supposed to care and protect vulnerable adults, but for some it meant abuse and cruelty.

Families have told me that they didn't want their loved ones to call Muckamore home but for so long there wasn't anywhere suitable for them in the community.

Recently a man who had lived there for 47 years - since the age of nine - was rehoused in an ordinary house.

There is a great deal of expectation about Northern Ireland's latest inquiry into its health and social care system.

Families want and deserve answers.

How was this allowed to happen? Who knew it was happening? And who allowed it to continue?

This inquiry is not just about Muckamore.

Instead it is about the system and those in charge of it.

There are many pertinent questions around who was in charge; the accountability and the role played by various boards.

In February 2019, then-chief executive of the Belfast Trust, Martin Dillon, told the BBC that some of what had happened was "a source of shame".

He said his primary focus was to "put things right".

This public inquiry will hopefully yield answers and help Northern Ireland turn a corner in how it protects those who rely on us to protect them.

Glynn Brown went public about his own son's experience in 2017.

Speaking to BBC News NI he said: "This is the worst adult safeguarding scandal since the NHS was formed.

"I shouldn't have had to push and prod and keep raising for this inquiry to be opened but I did.

"Once they realised this was a massive scandal with vulnerable people they just should have launched a public inquiry.

"There have been catastrophic failures in all directions and in all departments. It goes to the very top.

"We want to know how come every protection measure that was in place failed so miserably."

In December 2018, a catalogue of abuse and neglect in the hospital was revealed in a report leaked to BBC News NI.

The review, A Way To Go, was commissioned by the Belfast Trust to examine safeguarding at the hospital between 2012 and 2017.

Among its findings were that patients' lives had been compromised, staff did not follow safeguarding protocols and that CCTV footage showed patients being harmed by staff.

After the review was published, a mother of a severely-disabled patient gave her first broadcast interview to BBC News NI where she described the seclusion room her son was placed in as "a dark dungeon".

Monday's public inquiry was announced last September and has since been preparing for the public hearings, including meeting families.

Its aim is to establish what happened between residents and some members of staff, to examine management's role and ensure that such abuse does not happen again at the hospital or any other institution.

On his appointment, Mr Kark urged those with information to come forward. He said while he "recognised this was an extremely distressing time, all engagement will be strictly confidential".

The inquiry is to be wholly independent and not accountable to the Department of Health, the Stormont Executive, the Northern Ireland Assembly or any public body.

Solicitor Claire McKeegan, who is representing some of the families, said it was "critical the inquiry gets to the truth".

"The inquiry has to get to the truth and form recommendations with teeth to ensure that this never happens again," she said.

"Anyone could have a loved one who requires care in a hospital like Muckamore and the situation now is that how can they know that they'll be safe?"

Families expect some of the proceedings to be harrowing, including seeing the footage that involves their loved ones.

Mr Brown said he has been warned that the footage involving his own son will be difficult to view.

"We, the families, don't feel guilty about what happened; it's the authorities who let loved ones down. Culpability lies at the very top."

In August 2020, Northern Ireland's Health Minister Robin Swann said there was a "sustained failure of care" at Muckamore Abbey Hospital.

A review of leadership and governance at the hospital in 2020 found that systems to protect against risks to safe and effective care were not implemented properly and senior staff did not use their discretion to escalate matters.

It also found that the Belfast Trust board and executive team rarely discussed Muckamore Abbey Hospital and that the focus of trust leadership was on resettlement targets.

Mr Swann said he had "no doubt that the inquiry proceedings will be a harrowing experience for all those affected by the abject failure of care at Muckamore".

"I believe it is appropriate today for me to publicly reiterate my previous apology on behalf of the Health and Social Care system to all the patients and families who have been so badly let down," he said.

"As I stated in September 2020 when I announced my intention to establish an inquiry, patients and families need more than apologies. They deserve the truth on what has happened and how it was allowed to happen. I trust that this public inquiry will provide the answers that are required."