Muckamore inquiry: Hospital like a prison, says ex-patient's sister

A woman has told the Muckamore Abbey Hospital Inquiry that she never met a doctor involved in her sister's care, which lasted nearly 50 years.

Kathleen's disabled sister Mary lived at Muckamore from 1969 to 2018. Both women were identified at the inquiry by their first names only.

Their family was advised to send Mary to Muckamore for tests when she was 18.

She stayed there for 48 years and died in 2020 after two "relatively happy" years in a care home in Armagh.

Muckamore Abbey Hospital in County Antrim is run by the Belfast Health Trust and provides facilities for adults with special needs.

A major police investigation began in 2017 after allegations of ill-treatment began to emerge.

Thousands of hours of CCTV footage has been reviewed as part of the investigation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

A separate public inquiry into the abuse began in June and relatives of patients have been giving evidence.

On Thursday her sister Kathleen told the inquiry that communication with staff at Muckamore was very poor.

She was asked by the inquiry chair Tom Kark QC if she was aware of anyone with particular responsibility at Muckamore for her sister's care.

"That's a long time for someone to be in hospital," he said.

"Was there anybody there responsible? Someone who was a key person?"

"No," she said. "No-one special."

She said she received a phone call from a staff member on one occasion, telling her that Mary had been hit on the mouth by another patient.

"Muckamore wasn't like a hospital", she said.

"It was more like a prison - all you could hear were keys and locks."

Families of patients at Muckamore Abbey Hospital

She also raised concerns about alleged irregularities regarding Mary's benefits.

Kathleen said she was participating in the public inquiry because she wanted to know "how it came to be that Mary was subject to abuse and ill treatment".

"I hope nobody else goes through the same thing," she said.

"I would like the whole truth to come out."

Later during Thursday's inquiry hearing, the mother of a former patient said her daughter had loved her time in the children's ward at Muckamore but began "kicking and screaming and not wanting to go" when she was moved to an adult ward.

Margaret's 43-year-old daughter Roberta was born with mosaic syndrome and has a mental age of about eight or nine.

She spent some time at Muckamore for respite care from the mid 1990s until the mid 2000s.

Shortly after being moved to an adult ward, Roberta began telling her mother that someone was hitting her.

Margaret told the inquiry that at the time she thought it was another patient.

"Looking back, I should have listened to her when she said someone was hitting her," she said.

"But I trusted the staff, I never heard that anything had happened."

Roberta was sectioned for a time after an incident in which she attacked someone.

Roberta's mother told the inquiry that she wasn't allowed to see her at Muckamore for more than four weeks.

When she was allowed to visit, Roberta showed her a padded cell beside the waiting room, telling her mother: "This is where you go when you are bad."

Margaret said she told her husband "she shouldn't be here", adding that a doctor later agreed with her.

Roberta now lives at home.

After some disruption to services due to the Covid-19 pandemic, she is back at a day centre receiving respite care, and is "loving life", said her mother.

The inquiry continues.