Rebecca Thomas, 'NHS criticised for sending patients to children’s hospital despite 1,600 ‘sexual safety incidents’' (Independent, 18/4/23)
CAMHS hospital "[L]eading mental health charity Mind has criticised the NHS for continuing to use the hospital, despite evidence of 'catastrophic failings in physical and sexual safety' spanning several decades. ... Taplow Manor, which is run by Active Care Group after it merged with The Huntercombe Group, is set to be closed in May. ... Thames Valley Police have launched an investigation into an alleged rape of a patient involving two staff members at the unit. The private provider revealed shortly after it hopes to reopen the hospital as an adult unit within months. Although Taplow Manor is set to close the provider’s second children’s unit, Ivetsey Bank in Stafford is still open and NHS commissioners have admitted 16 children to the hospital since October, The Independent can reveal. Ivetsey Bank is also facing a police investigation into an alleged sexual assault of a patient in March."
See also
- CAMHS hospital. Rebecca Thomas, 'Hospital of horrors: 1,643 ‘sexual safety incidents’ in a single 59-bed children’s unit' (Independent, 11/4/23) — "A single children’s mental health hospital with just 59 beds reported more than 1,600 'sexual safety incidents' in four years, shocking NHS figures reveal. Huntercombe Hospital in Maidenhead [Taplow Manor] was responsible for more than half of the sex-related investigations reported in the 209 children’s mental health units across the country. Despite warnings being sent to the health service at a rate of more than one a day since 2019 – a total of 1,643 sexual incident reports – no action was taken to stop vulnerable NHS patients being sent to the scandal-hit unit. ... Last year The Independent revealed that police were investigating the alleged rape of a child at Taplow Manor, involving two staff members. A young female patient also made a report to the police of an alleged rape by another patient in 2019. Last month it was revealed that a further sexual assault, at a unit in Stafford owned by Active Care Group, had been reported to the police in recent weeks. It comes after the Huntercombe Group closed its Watcombe Hall unit in Devon after a nurse was convicted of the grooming and sexual abuse of two patients. ... Active Care Group claimed that the high number of reports was a “sign of best practice”, indicating a safer culture."
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