A petition has been launched calling on health minister Robin Swann to order an inquiry into abuse of vulnerable patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital.
It comes as The Irish News learned that police have been made aware of a fresh 'safeguarding incident' at the Co Antrim facility - almost three years after disturbing reports of abuse captured on CCTV sparked the biggest investigation of its kind in Northern Ireland.
It is understood the latest incident concerns a patient with severe learning disabilities.
Belfast health trust confirmed that an "agency member of staff had their shifts withdrawn due to an alleged safeguarding concern".
"We notified the PSNI on 8 July 2020," a trust spokesman said.
The trust refused to comment on whether an internal probe was ordered or if CCTV footage was shared with police.
The patient's mother, Mary McPeake, said she was telephoned by a staff member on July 7.
She said a hospital safeguarding officer phoned her the next day to say that an investigation was to be carried out.
The Glengormley woman's adult son has been in the hospital for more than a decade.
Previous allegations of serious physical abuse and mental cruelty by staff who were caring for him form part of an unprecedented police probe into Muckamore, which has led to seven arrests.
"When I got the call I wanted to cry first of all. But then I became very cross. My son is one of the patients whose case is part of the big police investigation," Mrs McPeake said.
"During lockdown I couldn't get to see him and I was ringing every evening asking who was with him. I had a restricted visit with him at the weekend, it was absolutely horrendous as he has deteriorated badly. I am distracted with worry."
The mother-of-two said she asked the safeguarding officer if CCTV footage was available in relation to the incident.
"I wasn't given a clear answer," Mrs McPeake said.
Much of the evidence for the major PSNI investigation at Muckamore relates to 300,000 hours of CCTV images over a six-month period between April and September 2017.
The police probe is the biggest adult safeguarding case ever carried out in the north - if not the UK - with 1,500 suspected crimes relating to one ward alone. Viewing of historic CCTV images on other wards by detectives is continuing.
Almost 60 Muckamore staff have been suspended, while files were submitted by detectives to the Public Prosecution Service in April.
Mrs McPeake said the emergence of the scale of the allegations over the past two years had severely impacted on her mental health.
"When I first met with police and was told of two major incidents of physical abuse and mental torture of my son I was shocked," she said.
"But when I look back I think to those times his behaviour was erratic and he told me things. You blame yourself. I always asked staff about fresh bruising on him and was told he was 'clumsy'. But since the staff all changed there has been no bruising.
"There was some really good people there and one particular nurse who was an angel. But she even said to me it was like all their good work was undone.
"I thought he was in right place with staff I could trust. I should have seen the warning signs. It eats you."
Mrs McPeake is among a number of relatives making up a pressure group, Action for Muckamore, who are campaigning for a public inquiry into the scandal.
Solicitor Claire McKeegan of Phoenix Law, who acts for the group, raised concerns about the latest safeguarding incident and health service transparency.
The group has now formally launched an online petition calling on health minister Robin Swann to order an inquiry, with more than 800 signatories in recent days.
"This incident underscores the need for immediate implementation of a full and effective public inquiry," she said.
"Only then can these families have any confidence that their loved ones are safe. There can be no tolerance of abuse and it is critical that the individuals and institutions responsible should be held to account."
Glynn Brown, who heads up Action for Muckamore, and first raised the alarm three years ago after his non-verbal autistic son, Aaron, was allegedly assaulted while being cared for in the hospital's Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), also said the need for an inquiry was more pressing than ever.
"It is incredible to think that three years down the line, with all the negative publicity, ongoing police investigation and installation of CCTV cameras, that this new incident has come to light," he said.
"We urgently need an inquiry."
A PSNI spokeswoman confirmed it was "made aware of an adult safeguarding incident at a care facility in Antrim on Wednesday 8 July 2020".
"Enquiries are ongoing."
