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PSNI backs call for CCTV to protect vulnerable in care

Lyndsey Telford
BBC News NI
Getty Images A close up of security cameras in an empty hospital corridor. The corridor is blurred out in this stock image. Getty Images
The PSNI supports mandatory CCTV in settings where care is delivered to people severe learning disability or mental health needs

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has backed calls from families of patients of Muckamore Abbey Hospital for mandatory CCTV to be in place in settings where vulnerable people are cared for.

In a closing statement on behalf of police at the public inquiry into abuse of patients at the Antrim-based facility, Mark Robinson KC said CCTV afforded "protection" to the most vulnerable.

He said had it not been for the discovery of footage at the hospital in 2017, the inquiry would not be happening.

"Without that CCTV, there would be no police investigation, no prosecutions, no public knowledge or awareness of issues uncovered in Muckamore Abbey Hospital," he said.

"And the conclusion of that would be that circumstances giving rise to the allegations of abuse may indeed be continuing to this very day."

Mr Robinson said the PSNI had been disappointed that there was no provision within a draft adult protection bill for the mandatory installation of CCTV in settings where care was delivered to those with severe learning disabilities or mental health needs.

PA Media A sign says Muckamore Abbey Hospital on a low white wall in front of bushes and a red-brick buildingPA Media
Allegations of abuse of vulnerable patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital is the subject of a public inquiry and a separate police investigation

He added that the PSNI "trusts that the inquiry will consider this important issue when making their recommendations".

Muckamore is run by the Belfast Health Trust and provides facilities for adults with special needs.

The public inquiry is examining abuse at the hospital, which is based outside Antrim.

A separate major police investigation began in 2017 after allegations of ill-treatment began to emerge.

The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA), which gave evidence during the inquiry on its role in responding to abuse allegations at the hospital, said inspections had been carried out in accordance with the methodology in place at the time.

The comment was made in a closing statement on behalf of the health watchdog by barrister Michael Neeson.

However, he added that inspections alone could not guarantee the prevention of abuse.

"Inspections are limited in what they can do; you're there for a period of time, you get a snapshot of a service during that time," he said.

"A system of inspection cannot guarantee the prevention of abuse, and the limitations inherent in inspection must be properly acknowledged."

He said the RQIA was a "learning" and "reflective" organisation, but that there were "limitations" on its ability to make full use of its role due to its current funding capacity.

"There is insufficient capacity or resources available to RQIA to fulfil the requirements of its regulatory role across the varied environments in which increasingly people are now being supported," Mr Neeson said.

He said the provision of services in community settings had evolved considerably over the years, and while the RQIA had a "broad range of duties and powers", there were "regrettably limitations upon the body's ability to make full and effective use of its powers and duties given its current funded capacity".