Winterbourne View

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Howe, for repeating as a Statement the Answer to the Private Notice Question in the other place.

This has been an horrific case, and recent convictions have revealed criminal and inhuman acts which have caused such terrible abuse to vulnerable people who deserved very much better than that. The “Panorama” programme this week has continued to highlight inappropriate and poor-quality care. It is shocking that the first review, mentioned by the noble Earl, revealed that 19 former residents of Winterbourne View were still subject to safeguarding alerts, and at the follow-up review six former residents were still subject to those alerts. Not all those alerts mean that someone has been harmed. None the less, the “Panorama” programme said that there was one instance of assault, and another case has resulted in a criminal investigation. I should like to ask the noble Earl whether the families of all patients with a safeguarding alert have been given full details. What specific action has been taken as a result of those alerts? Can the Minister guarantee to the House that all patients are no longer at risk?

I should also like to ask him about the responsibility of the local commissioners. I believe that a considerable number of commissioners are responsible for the 51 former Winterbourne View residents. Can he say whether the commissioners now have a proper plan in place to ensure that the former residents receive good-quality care? Has the Care Quality Commission recently inspected all the providers that the former Winterbourne View patients were moved to? The “Panorama” programme raised particular concerns about Postern House, which the CQC inspected in January this year and said it met all the essential standards of quality and safety, and that suitable arrangements were in place to ensure that people were safeguarded against the risk of abuse. Yet the programme revealed a number of problems at Postern House over several years, including over a former Winterbourne View patient in June this year. Is the noble Earl, Lord Howe, confident that all the patients currently in Postern House are protected from the risk of abuse?

Of course, the noble Earl is right to say that responsibility lies ultimately with providers, commissioners and the regulators, but it is Ministers who set policy and have responsibility for ensuring that it is implemented. The noble Earl will know that organisations such as Mencap have been concerned that the Government are not moving quickly or strongly enough to end the practice of sending patients with learning disabilities to long-stay institutions, far away from their families and friends. Will the review he mentioned that will be published by the end of November contain a cohesive strategy for people with learning disabilities? Will this practice of placing people with learning disabilities in institutions a long way from families and friends be discontinued? Is the noble Earl satisfied that commissioners understand their responsibilities and that only, as he said, in limited cases should in-patient services be used?

The role of the regulator, the Care Quality Commission, is of course very important. I very much welcome the appointment of David Behan as the new chief executive but I remain concerned that the huge workload being placed on the CQC means that it is not able to devote itself to areas where we need strong regulation. Is the noble Earl confident that the CQC is now able to take on the responsibilities that have been placed upon it, particularly with regard to focusing on the institutions and organisations where the most vulnerable people are placed?

Finally, I agree with and echo the Minister’s point about the ultimate responsibility of providers. However, is he satisfied that the current arrangements ensure that those providers are regulated effectively—that commissioners know what they are commissioning and are able to monitor performance? Does he recognise that there are real concerns about whether the staff in such institutions are given enough support and training? Given that many of the workers in these homes are unregulated care assistants, does he not think that the time has come to reconsider the regulation of health and social care assistants?