Wiltshire mother condemns 'false promises' a decade on from Winterbourne View abuse scandal

Footage showed patients violently restrained, pinned under chairs, forced under cold showers as punishment, and even one woman who had mouthwash poured into her eyes.

Simon - whose mother Ann Earley lives in the Devizes area - was relentlessly bullied by staff members during his time at the now closed assessment and treatment unit near Hambrook, in south Gloucestershire.

Simon's mother Ann at the time had been left "speechless" following watching the footage of Simon.

Ann and Simon

Now, she has joined forces with other Winterbourne View families to highlight the risks that still remain for people with learning disabilities.

READ MORE: It was torment to see my son suffer, says Devizes Mum

Alongwith charities Mencap and The Challenging Behaviour Foundation, they have written an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnston demanding better care for adults with learning disabilities.

Ann, who still lives in Wiltshire, said: “When there was a shockwave of horror after the abuse of our sons and daughters was aired on national TV, we naively hoped that the promises made by government would change the system forever. Yet, here we are 10 years on still having to fight.

“For many, the promised support failed to come, not just for our loved ones, but for their families who were also left traumatised by the events. Our loved ones were left struggling within a failing system and some were re-admitted, commencing the sad, sorry cycle again and again.

“The failure to extricate people entrenched within the system is pathetic, but it is the failure to stop others being pulled in that’s even worse. The dangers have been exposed, the failures noted, the appalling damage catalogued but still decision-makers and commissioners condemn our loved ones to a life of misery. Still other settings like Winterbourne Views are built and their beds filled.

Winterbourne View closed in 2011 after years of abuse behind closed doors

"There should never be the opportunity for another Winterbourne View to be created under the guise of providing care.”

In the open letter to the Prime Minister, the families added: “Countless other families have experienced, and continue to experience, the same trauma at the hands of the system.

“Not even the exposure in the media of their torture has been sufficient motivation for government and the NHS to change a broken system.”

'We need to stop the damage'

The open letter by the families pointed to research by charities Mencap and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation (CBF) showing 2,040 people with autism or learning disabilities are still being held in assessment and treatment units.

Despite being meant for short-term treatment, the average time a patient is held in such units is more than five-and-a-half years – often far from their homes and families.

The charities found 355 people have been in assessment and treatment units for more than 10 years.

The charities’ analysis also shoed that there have been at least 102,010 recorded reports of restrictive practices, like physical restraint, chemical cosh and solitary confinement, since October 2018 when figures were first reported. This is equivalent to one used every 12 minutes.

Edel Harris OBE, Mencap chief executive, said: “For people and their families to have been through such horrors and for so little to have changed is deplorable.

“We cannot tolerate a situation where more people are locked up simply because they cannot access appropriate support in their community.”

Vivien Cooper OBE, chief executive of the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, added:  “The messages from the families who have shared their experiences 10 years after the abuse at Winterbourne View was exposed are stark and clear – however you look at it, care has not been transformed.

"Think what can be achieved in 10 years – then consider how little has changed for so many people with learning disabilities and autistic people whose behaviour challenges."

Simon's story

A 'ring of protection' has been thrown around Simon

To mark ten years since the BBC investigation, a booklet entitled “Tea, smiles and empty promises: Winterbourne View and a decade of failures – a collection of family stories” has been created.

It looks back on the lives of patients affected by the barbaric treatment they endured.

Ann has detailed the story of Simon, who was at Winterbourne View from 2010-2011. He had previously been at Postern House in Marlborough.

He is now 47 years old.

Ann writes: "Simon’s downward pathway ending in his shocking abuse at Winterbourne View was a completely unnecessary and avoidable occurrence. Having identified “trigger points” for Simon’s outbursts of difficult behaviour, the care company had asked for two additional hours of staff funding. They had been covering the cost themselves, but as a small company were unable to undertake this as a long-term commitment. 

"We were forced – indeed we were threatened by forcible removal if we didn’t allow him to be taken to an Assessment Unit, despite it being 40 minutes away and removed from the area that Simon had grown up in. His level of fear at unknown places and people must have been sky high.

"This unit was the first time that Simon experienced forcible restraint and we, his parents, were so outraged that we naively thought that the staff would be charged with assault!

"We were quickly put straight and told that it was Simon’s fault and we were lucky that it wasn’t him being charged. So it began.......then another unit, then ultimately to the horrors that were Winterbourne View. 
By this time Simon was sectioned and things were totally out of our control legally.

A care worker at Winterbourne View restraining a patient under a chair (BBC/PA)

"It proved impossible to find a solicitor with sufficient knowledge of the system to help and we were advised to sit it out, indeed we were powerless to do anything else. Whilst Simon was in Winterbourne View, his father (my exhusband) unexpectedly and tragically died. We, his family believed that this was partly due to the stress of his son’s incarceration.

"Simon’s abuse has been welldocumented but of course there will be much that we are unable to piece together. Suffice to say that the abuse was both emotional and physical and ultimately wore Simon down to a point that I no longer recognised the person that he had become. Visits were difficult; not only was I working but my husband was, at this point, dying of cancer having been very ill for many years. I was able to take Simon out but not permitted to visit his room and he was brought downstairs to the family room when I arrived.

"The amazing Panorama team provided the catalyst that changed our lives. Now that his section three had been lifted, we were able to break Simon out from his confinement to return him to his care home, close by to me, where he had spent so many years.

"Despite returning to familiar surroundings, the same staff who had cared for and loved Simon since he was 18 years old (at this point he was 35) and his own possessions around him, it quickly became apparent that Simon was broken, and not the same individual that had left two years previously. Unable to live with his peers, the house was separated to provide Simon with a small self-contained area. Sadly this didn’t really work either.

Winterbourne View

"The happy-go-lucky chap that had left us had returned as a confused, unhappy and understandably belligerent individual.

"A landmark moment for us all occurred when a lovely bungalow, in a quiet spot was identified as suitable for Simon. Originally a school caretaker’s house it was undergoing a conversion to become a supported living house when it was decided that it was not suitable for the original recipient. Unbelievably, it was actually in my home village and all his own staff could move with him. Some things are just meant to be!

"It has not been a bed of roses over the past five years since he moved. Having been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, a specialised consultant was hard to find. Though it’s been amazing how the money materialised to try to repair the damage done, but couldn’t be found for prevention! 

"Simon now has the best of care. His staff love him and don’t just care for him, some of them having been with him for over 20 years.

"He lives in a calm environment surrounded by people who know him and accept him into the community.

"A ring of protection has been thrown around him by good, understanding professionals and imaginative and creative carers, but I am always aware that this veneer is still paper thin and fragile. A change in funding, a staff change, any small thing has the ability to bring everything tumbling about our ears. 

"So even now ten years on, immeasurably damaged but still standing, we forge our path and move forwards into the future, thinking ourselves lucky that Simon has a future."