Tonight:
5°c
Broadmoor staff 'forgot to lock up danger patients'
22 Jul 2009Staff at high-security Broadmoor "forgot" to lock up some of the hospital's most dangerous patients on several occasions, it was revealed.
In one incident, the alarm was only raised after a patient in the dangerous and severe personality disorder unit - which houses sexual offenders and murderers - walked out of his room to tell night workers.
Nigel McCorkell, chairman of the West London Mental Health Trust, said staff had received written warnings that "it is an unacceptable thing to happen".
He told Channel 4 News: "The patients in question were not locked up at night as they are required to be so, and one of the patients pointed this out to a member of staff."
Mr McCorkell told the programme "it happened on one or two occasions".
In a separate incident in March this year, only half the staff on the unit turned up for their shift, a managerial email obtained by Channel 4 revealed.
According to the email "only six out of the planned 12 staff turned up for night shift at DSPD last night. Different reasons were given by each member of staff for not attending."
The fresh revelations came to light as the West London Mental Health Trust was attacked for showing a lack of "vitality and vigour" in tackling a series of shortcomings and incidents including patient suicides.
Inpatients were put at risk due to a failure to properly investigate suicides and learn from other serious incidents, health and social care regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.
Reader views (4)
"Unnacceptable" - now there's a scary word to put you in fear of losing your pension . . .
- Roz, France, 22/07/2009 16:29
Report abuse
So, the mentally ill out on the streets are "ok, as long as they take their meds" and the 'most dangerous' apparently are ok, as long as someone follows procedure and locks the doors.
BIG problem in both cases: the loser is the common man who pays the price, either in blood or taxes, to keep this rot around.
- Trunk, US, 22/07/2009 15:23
Report abuse
If you were to swap the residents of Broadmoor for those parasites in the House of Conmen perhaps we could have some democracy restored to the UK.
- Reuben Camara, Republic of Morecambe, UK, 22/07/2009 11:52
Report abuse
Did they also "forget" to lock up Gordon Brown ?
It's hard to understand why he's still at large
- T Bishop, Manchester, 22/07/2009 10:19
Report abuse
