The first report I’m going to review is on Winterbourne hospital, a private hospital at Hambrook, South Gloucestershire.
A panorama investigation broadcast on television in 2011, exposed the physical and psychological abuse suffered by people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour at the hospital.
The local social services and CQC (care quality commission) had received various warnings about winterbourne, but the mistreatment continued.
The broadcast showed staff repeatedly abused patients by assaulting them, harshly restraining patients under chairs. Staff gave patients cold showers as punishments, poured mouthwash into another’s eyes, staff also pulled patients hair and forced medication into their mouths. Victims were shown screaming and shaking, one patient even tried to jump out of a second floor window to escape the torment.
The national newspaper, The Daily Mail reported 11 staff have been brought to justice, with this a devastating report has exposed the serial failings of the local NHS, the police and health watchdogs.
The CQC (care quality commission) initially blamed Winterbourne managers for “effectively misleading us by not keeping us informed about incidents”.
However it later emerged that managers from Winterbourne had officially alerted the CQC (care quality commission) to numerous allegations of staff abusing patients, dating back to February 2008 but this did not lead to any convictions.

STAFFORD HOSPITAL
The second report regards Stafford hospital which was at the centre of a major scandal in which numerous newspapers reported from information gathered that there were between 400-1200 more deaths than were expected between the year 2005 and 2008. It is impossible to say all of these patients would have survived if they had received better treatment.
In 2010 an independent