Health Minister Robin Swann's announcement yesterday of a public inquiry into the Muckamore Abbey scandal is a welcome and significant step forward for highly vulnerable patients and their families.
If anything, the decision was long overdue for such was the litany of shocking revelations and allegations emerging from the Co Antrim hospital over the past three years that a full public inquiry was the only appropriate response.
This move comes after two reports into the abuse at Muckamore, the second of which was published just last month and contained damning criticisms of the leadership and governance of the unit by Belfast Trust.
Mr Swann yesterday apologised on behalf of the health and social care system but acknowledged that families want more than apologies, they deserve answers as to why this abuse happened.
"I cannot find words to adequately describe the scale of this betrayal of trust, this scandal," he said.
We must remember that the extent of the appalling treatment of patients at this hospital only came to light as the result of the extraordinary tenacity of Dundonald man Glynn Brown, who demanded to see CCTV footage following reports that his son, Aaron, was allegedly assaulted in August 2017.
It was discovered that the cameras, which had been running for some time without the knowledge of staff or management, had recorded disturbing conduct that has led to the biggest criminal adult safeguarding investigation of its kind in Northern Ireland.
Attention will now turn to the terms of reference of the public inquiry which must be comprehensive, thorough and robust enough to ensure everything that went wrong at the hospital is exposed and those responsible for serious failings are held to account.
The families are entitled to see those in positions of authority cooperate fully with the probe which must not become bogged down in unnecessary delays.
Muckamore Abbey should have been a place of care and safety for adults with severe learning disabilities, people who in many cases are unable to communicate.
The fact that defenceless patients in a health and social care facility in Northern Ireland were subjected to abuse is not just a scandal, it is an outrage.
The families of those patients should not have had to fight so long and so hard for a public inquiry but now that it has been agreed, it must do its job and provide the answers they deserve.
