Winterbourne View and Castlebeck Facilities

Monday 18th July 2011 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Paul Burstow)]

I promised to update the House about ongoing activity in relation to Winterbourne View private hospital.

The House will wish to be aware that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has today published its compliance report on Winterbourne View.

All patients have now left the premises and Winterbourne View is now closed. CQC undertook a responsive review of Winterbourne View following the abuse uncovered by Panorama. This review found serious concerns about the safety and quality of the service and CQC decided to take enforcement action to remove Winterbourne View from Castlebeck Care’s registration, closing the service permanently. CQC regulatory action in relation to Winterbourne View concludes with the publication of the compliance report today.

CQC has now inspected all Castlebeck Care services in England (23 in total). Individual reports on the findings are being drafted. These reports will be published separately and followed up with appropriate regulatory or enforcement actions where necessary. The final summary report and individual reports will be available on the CQC website by the end of July.

CQC’s own internal review is progressing with interviews of staff involved currently taking place. This information will provide the evidence for CQC’s individual management review as part of the serious case review, led by south Gloucestershire council. The internal review is expected to be completed by late summer.

CQC will be carrying out a focused inspection programme which will review care provided for people with learning disabilities by hospitals. The review will be in two phases:

phase one will consist of the inspection of 150 services that provide care for people with learning disabilities;

phase two will use the learning from phase one to look at a sample of other registered services covering alternative models of provision for people with learning disabilities.

South Gloucestershire council has appointed Margaret Flynn, chair of the Lancashire safeguarding adults board, as independent chair of the serious case review and the rest of the panel are now in place.

The panel for the NHS serious untoward incident review has been appointed with members from NHS South West, NHS South Central and NHS West Midlands. The review will be led by Dr Gabriel Scally, South West Regional Director of Public Health.



Arrangements are being put in place for family, carers and self advocate representatives to be involved in the review as part of a reference panel.

The first phase of the review has started. This involves gathering information from all commissioners of care and treatment at Winterbourne View since 2006.

The Department of Health review will be led by Bruce Calderwood, Mental Health and Learning Disability Director. The review will be advised by a panel of experts including Professor Jim Mansell, Mark Goldring and Anne Williams. Its activities will be informed by the views of service user and carer representatives including the National Forum for People with Learning Difficulties, the Challenging Behaviour Foundation and the National Valuing Families Forum.

I have today placed in the Library a copy of the Winterbourne View compliance report. Copies are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office and to noble Lords from the Printed Paper Office. I will update the House further at the earliest opportunity.