ALMOST HALF of the care homes run by a British company owned by wealthy Irish investors, including JP McManus, Dermot Desmond, John Magnier and Denis Brosnan, must make “root and branch improvements” or close, said regulators.
Patients at 11 of Castlebeck’s 23 homes in England and Wales are locked up for hours at a time, treated disrespectfully by staff, subjected to “a very restrictive regime” or subdued by restraints with little provocation, the Care and Quality Commission reported.
The Castlebeck group came to UK-wide attention after a BBC Panorama programme in June revealed widespread examples of abusive treatment towards patients with learning disabilities at its Winterbourne View home in Bristol.
However, the crisis has escalated after yesterday’s report from the regulator – which itself has come under attack for not preventing the Winterbourne abuses – found serious problems in four more of Castlebeck’s homes, and that seven others did not fully comply with standards.
In some, staff had locked patients in for long periods, while many were not getting the treatment they needed, even though the National Health Service pays Castlebeck up to £3,500 a week for each patient.
Castlebeck was bought in 2006 for £255 million by Swiss-based Lydian Capital Partners, established by Mr Brosnan after he left Kerry Group. He was joined by Mr McManus, Mr Desmond, Mr Magnier and other Irish investors.
Some Castlebeck patients “did not feel safe where they were living”, the regulator found; “the use of restraint seemed common practice . . . with little or no evidence that this was used as a last resort”; while “staff banter” did not respect “the dignity of patients”.
The regulator, indicating staff shortages, found staff worked “for at least 12 hours” and were not able to take a break because they were “the only qualified nursing staff on duty”.
On hearing of Panorama allegations, Castlebeck ordered a PricewaterhouseCoopers review in May, but this has not yet reported.
Mr Brosnan’s son Paul stood down last week as chairman after staff in another of the company’s homes were suspended.
Last night, Mr Brosnan snr told The Irish Times: “PwC’s recommendations will be implemented. We were shocked and appalled at what happened and determined that this will never happen again,” he said.
The British Nursing Midwifery Council, which has already opened fitness-to-practise inquiries into two Winterbourne View nurses, yesterday ordered similar investigations into the four Castlebeck homes now found by the regulators to be causing “serious concern”.
Prof Dickon Weir-Hughes, the council’s chief executive and registrar, said it was extremely disturbing that nurses had known of “the poor care in these establishments but did absolutely nothing to raise the alarm. Their failure to act is a betrayal of those in their care and of those in the professions who work so hard.
“Nurses and midwives have a professional obligation to challenge poor standards. I want to make it clear to every nurse and midwife on the NMC register that doing nothing is not an option,” he said.