The sister of a man held at an under-fire mental health hospital for almost all his adult life says a new abuse probe into the facility must bring real change.
Brigene McNeilly’s brother Bryan McCarry, 55, has been held at Muckamore Abbey, in Northern Ireland for 34 years.
Bryan McCarry has been at Muckamore Abbey for 34 years
McCarry, who has autism, a profound learning disability and bipolar disorder, was just 21 when he went to Muckamore.
He has been fit to leave the mental health hospital for 25 years. However, he remains at Muckamore, in County Antrim, because of a lack of suitable community accommodation.
Subject of a public inquiry
Muckamore is now the subject of a public inquiry into allegations of widespread abuse.
McNeilly says her brother is one of those who suffered abuse.
More than 70 staff have been suspended and 34 arrested over the allegations.
The transforming care programme has reduced the number of people with autism and learning disabilities held in mental health hospitals in England by 31 per cent since 2015.
McNeilly said there has been a similar attempt in Northern Ireland to get people out of long-stay hospitals.
But her brother’s near-lifelong stay shows the policy has had only a limited impact, she said.
Recommendations left gathering dust
McNeilly said recommendations made by previous abuse probes into Muckamore are gathering dust on government departments’ shelves.
She said she and other families have “voiced” their concerns to public inquiry chair Tom Kark. They said authorities must not end up ignoring this investigation as they did previous ones.
Kark has said the allegations against the hospital bring the medical, nursing and care professions into disrepute.
In a statement, Northern Ireland’s Department of Health (DoH) said it had accepted recommendations from two previous reviews. It added that it had set up an ‘action plan’ to implement them.
The statement also said that the DoH is committed to supporting people to live in the community. Patient numbers at Muckamore fell from 318 in 2005 to 38 in April 2022, it said.
Related:
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- Scandal of decade-long hospital stays
- ‘Abject failure’ of hospital plan
- Huge surge in hospitals using restraint
- Social workers aim to cut hospital stays
- Still stuck in mental health hospitals
- Spotlight on hospital care
- Families fight detention ‘scandal’
Published: 11 June 2022
