Families legal action against scandal-hit hospitals over ‘systemic abuse’

Dozens of former patients are launching legal action against a group of scandal-hit children’s mental health hospitals after The Independent exposed a culture of “systemic abuse”.

More than 30 people, some of who are still children, are taking action after claiming they were mistreated at children’s hospitals run by The Huntercombe Group between 2003 and 2023.

Allegations include children being injured during restraint, inappropriate force-feeding and patients being over-medicated.

Among the claimants are:

• A boy who has been left “traumatised” after being “drugged out of his mind” while staying at one of the hospitals.
• A girl who alleges she was groped by a member of staff and now needs more intensive inpatient care.
• A woman who says she was “forced to wee in bins” as there were not enough staff to take patients to the toilet.

A mother of one claimant told The Independent: “It is diabolical, I hope [the claims] can stop them from doing any more damage because it is just awful. Our beautiful girl has just been so ruined by them.”

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Source: The Independent, 18 June 2023