Page 22 - Community Living Magazine 32-3

Ending institutional abuse scandals
institutional abuse
Ending institutional abuse scandals

Was the chance to halt institutional abuse after the Winterbourne view scandal missed? Only
stronger community services and radical action to shut down private institutions will stop
history repeating itself, says Simon Duffy

candals are milestones on the long They also shared a common experience to fund private sector hospitals that feed
journey towards the liberation of of being let down by services. They were on local system failure. This is the wrong
speople with learning disabilities. not offered flexible support; instead, their way round; we must bring the people and
Sometimes they become important child was placed in a care home or the money home, not reduce the ability of
turning points, but often they lead to no residential school. Understandably, the local services to respond to problems.
meaningful change. young person would get angry and act Third, we must ensure that funding for
In the case of Winterbourne View, it out, so they were moved again – further communities is controlled locally. Hard-
looks as if we have missed our away from home into increasingly pressed councils are tempted to let people
opportunity. A great deal of money, institutional settings. become the responsibility of a better-
energy and ink has been spent, but it has funded but centralised NHS. Instead,
been spent on the wrong things. Four points to end abuse we need an NHS that is accountable to
After the scandal broke, I was contacted What was unusual about Winterbourne local people and works with them to
by a researcher from a London-based View was not the abuse but the fact that develop the community support needed
think-tank. He was astonished by the the abuse had been discovered. to avoid institutionalisation.
violence and humiliation he had seen on When we discover something awful, we
the Panorama programme; I was prefer to treat it as an exception, a one-off
astonished at his astonishment. problem, something that can be solved by “ He was astonished
For those of us who have dedicated our better leadership, new regulations or a
lives to inclusion, deinstitutionalisation grand government initiative. by the violence and
and community living, it is humbling to However, you cannot solve a major humiliation; I was
realise that the public, politicians and systemic problem without understanding astonished at his
policy experts do not understand that it. In the case of institutional abuse, this
institutional abuse is systemic, persistent means breaking the cycle of astonishment
and severe. institutionalisation at four critical points: ”
First, we must support families and
Winterbourne: the ‘least bad’ communities as early as possible and Finally, we must begin to demonstrate
I met a group of families whose children enable them to design ongoing support more clearly that institutionalisation is not
had been at Winterbourne View. All solutions that help people live as citizens a failure in the quality of services – it is a
agreed that this home was the “least bad” within their communities. Austerity has failure in human rights.
service their children had experienced. undermined this approach; today, local In future, we must talk more explicitly
These families knew their children (now services are slashed as expensive about false imprisonment, segregation
adults) would never be safe in this kind of institutional services continue to grow. and the crimes committed against people
institutional setting, many miles from Second, we must close down who have been placed in the custody
home, locked into inhuman regimes of institutional services. Foolishly, the of the state. Only then will we make
control and punishment, tranquillised NHS has focused on cutting its own real progress. n
and abused – physically, sexually local assessment and treatment units
and emotionally. (inadequate as they are) while continuing Simon Duffy is director of the Centre for
Welfare Reform and secretary to the
After the international cooperative the Citizen
Winterbourne View Network
scandal, a great
deal of money, Further reading
energy and effort Alakeson v, Duffy S (2011) Health Efficiencies:
was spent – but on The Possible Impact Of Personalisation In
the wrong things Healthcare. Sheffield: Centre for Welfare
Reform
Brown F, Dalrymple J (2018) A New Way Home:
a Personalised Approach to Leaving
Institutions. Sheffield: Centre for Welfare
Reform
Duffy S (2015) Getting There - Lessons From
Devon & Plymouth’s Work to Return People
Home to their Communities from Institutional
Placements. Sheffield: Centre for Welfare
Reform

22 Vol 32 No 3 | Spring 2019 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk