Northern Ireland

2013 Muckamore report was not shared with families

Muckamore Abbey Hospital in Co Antrim
Muckamore Abbey Hospital in Co Antrim Muckamore Abbey Hospital in Co Antrim

NORTHERN Ireland’s largest health trust has admitted that a report it ordered into alleged abuse at Muckamore Abbey Hospital seven years ago was not given to the families of affected patients.

In yesterday’s Irish News the contents of the confidential safeguarding probe into Ennis ward were revealed.

It emerged that allegations of physical abuse and mental cruelty of vulnerable patients by staff only came to light after a group of temporary workers from a care home blew the whistle in late 2012 – five years before CCTV exposed similar allegations which has led to 1,500 crimes being identified.

Ennis, which was an exclusively female ward and cared for those with the most severely complex needs, closed more than five years ago.

Police were alerted to the case and two arrests were made, with one Muckamore employee convicted of assault and given a suspended prison sentence.

Sources say the Ennis probe has re-surfaced within the top tiers of the trust over the past month, with questions being asked about its content and "how this could have happened again".

In a statement, a trust spokesman said that the recommendations of the report – which was published in 2013 - “continue to be implemented”.

“A comprehensive adult safeguarding investigation was launched in 2012 in joint-protocol with the PSNI,” he said.

“Throughout the investigation we kept the families and RQIA informed and the RQIA received a copy of the report.”

Solicitor Claire McKeegan of Phoenix Law, who is representing more than a dozen families of patients allegedly abused in 2017, last night described the trust’s failure to provide copies to relatives as “incredible”.

Ms McKeegan also confirmed that she had been contacted by a relative of a former Ennis patient yesterday.

“I have been instructed by this individual to approach the trust to receive an explanation as to why they have never seen this safeguarding investigation and to get access to it. She is entitled to it,” she said.

“The report can be easily redacted to exclude any information on other patients and staff. The fact the trust say they are still carrying out recommendations of the 2013 report when similar alleged abuse was carried out four years later is absolutely shocking.”

Meanwhile, Aidan Hanna of patient advocate group, NI Patient Voice, last night said the leaked Ennis report had strengthened the families’ calls for a public inquiry.

“Given the information contained in this report there must surely be an immediate inquiry held to investigate not just ward staff but trust management as well as the role of the regulator,” he said.