Staff at an NHS socialised healthcare facility in the UK have come under scrutiny with abuse allegations emerging after an undercover investigation, with an autistic woman alleged to have been locked in a small room for almost a month.
An undercover report into a socialised mental health hospital in the UK has claimed that staff routinely mistreat vulnerable patients, with one autistic woman in a small room for almost a month.
The facility — which is located in the English town of Prestwich — is run by the publicly funded Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, an organisation paid for by the UK taxpayer.
According to the BBC, which ran the undercover investigation, staff at the hospital are said to have been seen slapping or pinching patients. The broadcaster also described some workers as joking about patients self-harming.
The news agency’s undercover reporter also reportedly saw workers restrain patients unnecessarily, with some in the facility’s ‘care’ being unlucky enough to be put into isolation for weeks, and sometimes even months.
One autistic woman was reportedly forced to spend 27 days in isolation, while staff reportedly claimed that another woman had spent over a year locked up by the organisation.
The broadcaster claims that such isolation measures should be used for short periods to prevent immediate harm, with the facility’s isolation rooms only consisting of a shower, a bed, and a toilet.
To make matters worse, when one patient subjected to isolation asked for additional comforts — including a blanket and some teddy bears — one member of staff told her she was “lucky” she had “not got a straw fucking bed in there”.
“I’d give you a straw bed like cows have to sleep on,” the staff member reportedly said.
The BBC reports that the Greater Manchester Police has now opened a criminal investigation.
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