Care abuse allegations not followed up quickly
A Panorama undercover exposé has confirmed that complaints lodged by a whistle-blower at the Castlebeck Group in Britain last October were not addressed in any way until the middle of May.
The group, which runs 56 residential care homes for vulnerable people across Britain, is owned by Irish businessmen JP McManus, John Magnier, Dermot Desmond and Denis Brosnan.
The quartet are major investors in the Swiss-based investment firm Lydian Capital Partners, which was set up by Mr Brosnan after he left the Kerry Group and purchased Castlebeck in 2006 for £255 million (€288m). While they are considered backroom investors, Mr Brosnan’s son Paul is chairman of Castlebeck.
The Panorama investigation included recordings of nurses goading a patient about suicide, subjecting vulnerable people to freezing cold showers, and pinning a patient to the floor by a chair. All of the alleged abuses took place at the Castlebeck’s Bristol-based facility called Winterbourne View.
The BBC investigation followed complaints by whistle-blower Terry Bryan last October to both the Castlebeck Group and the Care Quality Commission in Britain.
No investigation was carried out and the issues were not brought to the Castlebeck board’s attention until May 12.
The businessmen are understood to have been appalled on learning of the alleged abuses.
A statement from the Castlebeck Group said “neither the chief executive nor any member of [the] board was made aware of the issue at any time before May 12”.
It added that “two members of our managerial staff have been suspended pending further inquiries into their conduct” and apologised “to those who have been let down by our failure to act more swiftly”.
It is understood that PricewaterhouseCoopers has been commissioned to oversee an independent investigation into the scandal, which is expected to be completed within the next 30 days.
It remains unclear why the Castlebeck Group’s rules for investigating allegations were not followed, and why a similar issue occurred at the Care Quality Commission watchdog, when concerns over the claimed abuses were first raised.
