THE father of a vulnerable patient who allegedly suffered 30 incidents of abuse at Muckamore Abbey hospital in less than three months has called for a public inquiry into the scandal.
The man, who does not wish to be named to protect his 21-year-old mentally disabled son, has also hit out at the "vagueness" of the Belfast health trust in providing information to relatives - and being forced to "go down the road of Freedom of Information requests" to get answers.
In yesterday's Irish News, it was revealed that patients at the Co Antrim facility had a "one in four chance" of being harmed and there was a "culture of silence" around reporting abuse allegations.
The information was relayed to relatives at a private briefing last month following a year-long investigation by an independent safeguarding expert.
However, families have not received any detailed information about the identity of the staff members who allegedly carried out the abuse, which was captured on CCTV cameras in a psychiatric intensive care ward.
To date, 13 members of Muckamore staff have been suspended, the majority of whom are nurses.
The Irish News last week asked the Belfast trust, which is responsible for Muckamore, to respond to some of the information relayed to relatives, including the fact the regional facility was referred to as a "high risk" setting in which the use of "unmonitored" seclusion was a "huge problem".
Three patients were discovered to have spent almost every day in seclusion in 2015, which an expert equated to prison.
In a statement, the trust failed to directly answer the query but did not dispute what was reported in the Irish News. A spokeswoman instead said:
"Following the report into Muckamore Abbey Hospital, Belfast trust recently held a series of meetings with families, staff and other stakeholders, to review aspects of the care in the hospital which need to change.
"We have started a process of working with families, staff and other stakeholders to change the model of care, with the goal of ensuring that the voices of patients, family carers, advocates and others are part of the futures arrangements in Muckamore."
But the concerned father, whose son was allegedly punched in the stomach by a staff member last August - an incident which he was assured was a 'one off' by a hospital manager - said he no longer has any confidence in the trust.
He received written confirmation last month from a health trust director there were "30 incidents" linked to his son that had been forwarded to the PSNI.
"I have put in two FoI requests which then became data access requests. When I did eventfully get replies, there was no real detail about what happened to my son or who was behind it," the man said.
"I have also been in touch with the police and the Department of Health. It's like pulling teeth. There are over 70 incidents being investigated linked to my son and other patients like him. It's got so big now I would like a full, public inquiry."
