Chief medical officer apologises over abuse

The chief medical officer and former acting chief executive of the Belfast Trust has apologised “unreservedly” to those affected by abuse at Muckamore Abbey Hospital.

Sir Michael McBride was giving evidence to the public inquiry into abuse of vulnerable patients in the facility.

He held the top role at the Belfast Trust, which is responsible for Muckamore Abbey Hospital, between 2014 and 2017.

At the inquiry on Tuesday, he said: “I apologise unreservedly as chief medical officer and former chief executive of the trust for the systematic failings that occurred, the abuse that occured, the harm and distress that has occurred to individuals who had a right to expect better.

“It was a fundamental breach of trust, it was fundamentally wrong and should never have happened.

“This is an opportunity to ensure lessons are learned… so this never ever happens again.”

Earlier, Sir Michael told the inquiry his recollection was that there was “no lack of scrutiny or challenge” at meetings.

But he said he had asked himself since if the governance arrangements overseeing the hospital were adequate.

“One cannot conclude that the systems of governance and oversight were sufficient when such abuse took place, was not identified, was not escalated, was not acted upon,” he said.

“Ultimately it is a matter for the inquiry to determine, but one can only conclude those systems were not adequate.”

Sir Michael said with the benefit of hindsight “we should have been more alert to the of vulnerability of patients”, particularly during this time, which was a time of transition as moves were being made towards resettling patients into the community.

He added an earlier investigation into allegations of abuse in the Ennis Ward in 2012 was “a missed opportunity”.

“The balance was more giving assurance that everyone was well, as opposed to turning over stones looking where problems might potentially be,” he said.

“I struggle professionally to understand how a situation like that could come about. The abuse took place was reprehensible and fundamentally wrong.

“It was an abuse of power, an abuse of power relationships, it should never be accepted or tolerated in any system.”

Sir Michael was asked: “Were you sufficiently probing or challenging?”

“I think the answer is simple, I don’t think any of us at any level were and we’re all diminished by that and I include myself in that,” he said.

“It’s not possible to conclude otherwise.”

Earlier, the former chief nursing officer for Northern Ireland, now deputy chief nursing officer for England, Prof Charlotte McArdle, told the inquiry she was first informed of abuse within Muckamore in 2017.

She told the inquiry ongoing difficulties over staff recruitment, particularly for specialist learning disability nurses, meant more agency and bank staff were being used.

She said the scale of the abuse just kept “getting bigger and bigger” and had concerns that initially within Belfast Trust, no-one appeared to understand the gravity of the problem or was in control of dealing with it.

After allegations began to emerge, Prof McArdle visited Muckamore several times.

Her own first hand observations were of a place with “a heightened sense of noise” and “unproductivity”.

“I spoke to some of the clients, I noticed they had created single bedroom space at the bottom of ward to retreat to instead of having to use seclusion, which was positive,” she said.

“There were positives and negatives but I was left with a feeling that there is more to be done to support particularly young people who were living in Muckamore.”

In 2018 Dr Margaret Flynn, author of a review into the hospital, recommended that it be closed.

At that time there were 60 people living there.

Prof McArdle said its immediate closure would have involved transferring patients to facilities in Great Britain.

When asked if there would have been pushback from patients’ families, she said: “I would assume so.”

She apologised to those patients and their families who have been affected by the scandal.

“I would reiterate my apology, as the most senior nurse in Northern Ireland,” she said.