Cawston Park: Patient death families offered minister meeting

The care minister has offered to meet the families of three adults with learning disabilities who died at a failed hospital.

A report found significant failures in the care of the patients at Jeesal Cawston Park, Norfolk.

Conservative MP for Broadland in Norfolk, Jerome Mayhew, said all similar units should be closed.

In response minister, Gillian Keegan, said the government was bringing in reforms to the Mental Health Act.

The report by Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board looked at the deaths of Joanna Bailey, 36, and Nicholas Briant, 33, both of London; and Ben King, 32, from Norfolk, between April 2018 and July 2020.

It found several failing at the hospital including "excessive" use of restraint and seclusion by unqualified staff.

Cawston Park closed in May after "consistent failures in meeting standards" were identified by the Care Quality Commission health watchdog.

In a debate in the Commons, Mr Mayhew said "we all should be ashamed as we've heard this before".

He asked the government to recommit to closing all long-term residential treatment units for adults with autism or learning difficulties.

Ms Keegan described the deaths as "heart-breaking" and she would "invite [the families] to meet with me so I can understand their experiences directly".

She said the failings found at the hospital were "completely unacceptable" and adults with autism or learning difficulties "must be treated with dignity and respect".

The minister said the government was "seeking to implement once-in-a-generation reforms to the Mental Health Act".

Reforms would "limit the scope to detain people with learning disability or autism for treatment if there is no diagnosed mental health cause for districted behaviour," she said.

She said for those who require in-patient care it would be "for the shortest time possible as close to home and the least restrictive as possible".

But Ms Keegan said the report had "highlight the need for urgent action in quicker time" and the Department for Health and Social Care was working on "cross-government action".

Jeesal Residential Care Services has previously said it would no longer run any further hospital services.

The company said: "While lessons can be learned from any inquiry, it does not necessarily follow that sweeping changes should be made in residential services unless those changes emanated from a review of residential services elsewhere."

It said its residential services "are well ahead of the workings of a hospital setting", adding: "Hospital systems and processes are often not relevant to the way services are delivered for our residents."

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